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The Problems with Patents: A Less than Optimistic Reading of the Future
Author(s) -
Carolan Michael S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7660.2009.01518.x
Subject(s) - harmonization , incentive , trips architecture , politics , law and economics , reading (process) , patent law , economics , international trade , public economics , intellectual property , business , law , political science , market economy , engineering , physics , acoustics , transport engineering
This article examines a number of problems associated with patents. These are aspects of patents (and patent law) that are masked by conventional discourse that frequently equates strong patent protections with innovation and, ultimately, economic growth. This article will discuss: patents' links with knowledge and expertise; infrastructural requirements; innovation incentive structures; coercive tendencies (via high litigation and transactions costs); and global ‘harmonization' agreements (specifically TRIPs). In sum, it provides a glimpse of why patent law matters for understanding today's political economy and why global inequalities will continue to grow unless the international socio‐legal landscape changes substantially.