Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

The views expressed in this paper are those of the staff involved and do not necessarily reflect those of the Productivity Commission. Appropriate citation is indicated overleaf. The Productivity Commission, an independent Commonwealth agency, is the Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation. It conducts public inquiries and research into a broad range of economic and social issues affecting the welfare of Australians. The Commission's independence is underpinned by an Act of Parliament. Its processes and outputs are open to public scrutiny and are driven by concern for the wellbeing of the community as a whole. Information on the Productivity Commission, its publications and its current work program can be found on the World Wide Web at www.pc.gov.au or by contacting Media and Publications on (03) 9653 2244. 3 Economic considerations 15 3.1 The economic rationale of IPRs 15 3.2 Cross-border spillovers of R&D benefits 17 3.3 Forms of IPR protection for R&D 20 3.4 Patent policy issues 24 3.5 Policy issues concerning industrial designs 32 3.6 Policy issues concerning copyrights 34 3.7 The rationale for trade marks 42 3.8 Parallel importing 44 3.9 The impact of TRIPS on developing countries 51 4 Statistical analysis 57 4.1 Different approaches to quantitative analysis 57 4.2 The Maskus indices 59 4.3 Estimated patent content of production and trade 65 4.4 The economic contribution of copyright protected industries 72 4.5 Applications and registrations 77 4.6 A brief overview 80 IV CONTENTS Appendixes A IP law and international agreements 82 A.1 Intellectual property rights broadly defined 82 A.2 Patents 83 A.3 IPR protection of biological innovations 90 A.4 Industrial designs 95 A.5 Trade marks 98 A.6 Geographical indications 102 A.7 Copyrights and neighbouring rights 104 A.8 Circuit layout rights 113 A.9 Protection of undisclosed information 114 B The Australian Maskus indices 116 C The patent content in trade 118 D Trade in copyright material 125 References 127 FIGURES 4.1 TABLES 3.1 Mean rating of effectiveness of alternative means of protecting new products and processes 20 3.2 Limitations of effectiveness of patents for new or improved processes and products 21 4.1 Product groups with potential IPR problems 59 4.2 Trade in patent-dependent goods 61 4.3 Trade in copyright-dependent goods 63 4.4 Trade in trade mark-dependent goods 64 4.5 Share of BERD and patent content in GDP 69 CONTENTS V 4.6 Percentage share of patent content in total trade of goods and …