Intellectual Property and Development Task Force Meeting, Santiago, 2005

An important part of success in development and attaining milestones such as the Millennium Development Goals depends on closing the knowledge, technology, and healthcare gaps between rich and poor countries. The Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) is helping to define what a development agenda for intellectual property might look like. Given its impacts on healthcare, access to drugs, and technology, intellectual property policy will impact the development of all countries.
 

The minimum standards set by the TRIPS agreement; the principle of special and differential treatment at the multilateral level; the impact of bilateral negotiations on developing countries' policy; TRIPS plus provisions; the public policy implications of the pharmaceutical and IT industries; and initiatives like the proposal presented by Argentina and Brazil on the establishment of a new development agenda within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are only some of the controversial issues at the center of international debate on intellectual property.There is a need to create a pragmatic and non-ideological discussion and literature on Intellectual Property.

To meet this need, the IPD Task Force on Intellectual Property and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean have organized a two-day meeting and round table discussion on intellectual property and development. International experts, academics and policymakers will convene to marshal what history, theory, evidence and solid policy analyses show in terms of intellectual property management and development patterns.