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How can developing countries increase their influence in international negotiations around intellectual property? That's the question addressed by Professor Peter Yu in one of the chapters of a forthcoming book that I am editing, Implementing WIPO's Development Agenda. I mention this now because Professor Yu's chapter has just been published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation as a working paper. It is availble for download right here.
  The release of the working paper coincides with the meetings of the WIPO General Assemblies that wrapped up in Geneva last night. The adoption of recommendations for a Development Agenda in October 2007 was a tremendous accomplishment, but so far practical changes have been slow to result. Concrete strategies are needed to ensure successful implementation of the recommendations over the coming months and years.
Yu argues that developing countries need to take advantage of the current momentum, coordinate better with other countries and nongovernmental organizations, and more actively share with others their experience, knowledge, and best practices. He begins by explaining how building intellectual property coalitions for development (he uses the term, IPC4D) can help less developed countries strengthen their collective bargaining position, influence negotiation outcomes, and promote effective and democratic decision making in the international intellectual property regime. The paper then discusses four coordination strategies that can be used to develop these coalitions. It concludes with a discussion of the various challenges confronting the creation and maintenance of these coalitions.
The working paper was prepared for the E.D.G.E. Network on the Emerging Dynamic Global Economies Network, hosted by the University of Ottawa and funded in part by the International Development Research Centre. The complete book will be co-published and released later this year by Wilfred Laurier University Press, CIGI and the IDRC.
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