Analysis carried out in this report indicates that international trade in counterfeit and pirated products could have been up to USD 200 billion in 2005. This total does not include domestically produced and consumed counterfeit and pirated products and the significant volume of pirated digital...

This document was prepared by Mr Peter Davies, consultant, in collaboration with the Secretariat. The main conclusions are that: Copyright is the right regime for software protection on the information superhighway. Exclusive reproduction rights should remain with the copyright holder. Content...

Few topics in the life sciences today provoke as much debate as the availability of patent protection on "genetic inventions". Some hold that protection is essential to encourage innovation and development of new products. Others argue that patents restrict access to the very innovations they...

Few systematic economic evaluations have been carried out on patent system to better inform policy choices. This report, which covers a range of areas, and highlights some issues that policy makers should address in the near future, including markets for technology, patenting by public reserach...

The latest System of National Accounts (the 2008 SNA) explicitly recognises, for the first time, that expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) should be recorded as capital formation. This is a natural extension to the 1993 SNA, which recommends recording many acquisitions of...