Who Gains from TRIPS Agreement

Source: Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries (2002), Chapter 5 Intellectual Property: Balancing Incentives with Competitive Access, at Page 133

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433

[Quotation]

Yang and Maskus (2001) studied technology licensing. The figures in the last column of table 5.1 update their results of estimating the impacts of international variations in patent rights on the volume of unaffiliated royalties and licensing fees (a measure of arm’s length technology transfer) paid to U.S. firms. Japan had a large absolute response, reflecting the importance of licensing in the Japanese economy.

However, large impacts were also discovered in the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia. Indeed the analysis suggested that licensing volumes would double in Mexico and India, and would go up by a factor of nearly five in Indonesia.