The illusion of the TRIPS Agreement to promote creativity and innovation in developing countries: Case study on Kenya

James Otieno Odek

TRIPS and Developing Countries

Towards a New IP World Order?

Edited by Gustavo Ghidini, Rudolph J.R. Peritz and Marco Ricolfi

TRIPS reflects the dominant view that enforcing strong intellectual property rights is necessary to solve problems of trade and development. The global ensemble of authors in this collection ask, how can TRIPS mature further into an institution that supports a view of economic development which incorporates the human rights ethic already at work in the multilateralist geopolitics driving international relations? In particular, how can these human rights, seen as encompassing a whole ‘new’ set of collective interests such as public health, environment, and nutrition, provide a pragmatic ethic for shaping development policy? Some chapters address these questions by describing recent successes, while others propose projects in which these human rights can provide ethical ground for influencing the forces at play in development policies.

Monograph Book

Published in print:: 28 Feb 2014

ISBN:: 9781849804851

eISBN:: 9781849804943

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849804943

Pages:: 336

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Chapter 9: The illusion of the TRIPS Agreement to promote creativity and innovation in developing countries: Case study on Kenya

James Otieno Odek

Monograph Chapter

Published:: 28 February 2014

Category:: Monograph Chapter

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849804943.00014

Pages:: 239–301 (63 total)

Collection: Law 2014

Extract

International trade increasingly involves a diverse array of products in which ideas and knowledge play a part. The products range from high-technology products such as new medicines and computer processors, to creative material like films and music, to low-technology products such as brand names and designs. The 21st century has unveiled unparalleled growth in knowledge-based products with unique human resource didactic and pedagogy skills required for countries to be competitive in their trade relations. These trends observed in national economic growth have one thing in common: they are fuelled by the creativity and inventiveness of mankind. The seed and gem of these remarkable trends is the human intellect-the knowledge ensconced in the human mind-intellectual property (IP). IP law makes property out of knowledge. Any country that does not harness and improve its knowledge base to leverage its creativity and innovation for socio-economic development and trade relations will be left behind.

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