This article examines a sample of German pharmaceutical firms to highlight the strategic reasons why firms participate in various intellectual property (IP) marketplaces, both proprietary (patents and copyrights) and non-proprietary (open source and non-patented technology). The obstacles that...

The quest for technological leadership has caused the widespread use of intellectual property protection (IPP) as an instrument of national technology policies. Even the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) can be interpreted as an attempt to hinder the international...

Developing countries tend to take a negative view of the protection of intellectual property rights as reflected in the TRIPs agreement, as this seems to conflict with their own developmental needs. As the following article points out, there are, however, a number of reasons why developing...