Long strange TRIPS: Intellectual property, the World Trade Organization and the developing world

The process of globalization is coming to bear a greater deal of influence on societies all over the world. This process is being shaped by a number of factors, none the least of which are the international financial organizations that seek to develop and formulate policies that they encourage their member countries to take on. One of the most prominent of these organization is the WTO. As part of the expanse in mandate of these organizations, the WTO has seen its mandate expand to encompass areas that were once considered the exclusive domain of national governments. One of these areas is intellectual property rights, which the WTO has sought to regulate and influence with its TRIPS agreement.; This thesis looks at the way in which the expanse of the mandate of the WTO/TRIPS has been characterized by hegemony, in that it has largely reflected the best trading interests of the privileged western countries at the expense of those developing countries. As it pertains to intellectual property rules, it is argued that this hegemonic expanse has facilitated the process of biopiracy, whereby western companies use these western-style intellectual property regimes to patent and exploit the biodiversity or knowledge thereof that is held in developing countries.; This thesis concludes in examining the way in which developing countries and their people are concerned about this process, and have advanced potential alternatives. These alternatives suggest action both from within and from without the WTO, aimed at reinterpreting the globalization of intellectual property regulations in a fashion that is more reflective of the concerns of the developing world.