Product Description: In recent years, Intellectual Property Rights - both in the form of patents and copyrights - have expanded in their coverage, the breadth and depth of protection, and the tightness of their enforcement. Moreover, for the first time in history, the IPR regime has become increasingly uniform at international level by means of the TRIPS agreement, irrespectively of the degrees of development of the various countries...read more

This volume considers the effects of the increasingly globalized protection of intellectual property rights on the ability of countries to provide their citizens with basic research, education, public health, and environmental protection. The contributions of distinquished economists, political scientists, and legal experts accordingly assess public processes and inputs. They reveal what an emerging transnational system of innovation needs to promote technical progress, economic growth and welfare for all participants.