This paper extends analysis of the GATT Uruguay Round by quantifying the impact of international patent harmonization as implied by the TRIPs agreement. What emerges is a picture of patent protection as an important method for appropriating the rents of an invention. On this basis patent...

Analysis of the Uruguay Round is extended by quantifying the impact of the TRIPs agreement. The static costs of raising the standards of patent protection are captured by the transfers of income between countries, with the majority of countries estimated to make net payments abroad, the United...