International Patent-Legislation and Developing Countries

I. The Evolution of Patent Legislation and Practices under Patent Rights, Nationally an Internationally.- I. Society and the Inventor.- A. Early Origins of Patents for Inventions.- B. The Statute of Monopolies 1623.- C. The Patent Doctrine at the end of the Eighteenth Century: The Patent Laws of the United States and France.- D. The Different Theories on Patent Rights and the Evolution of the Private Property Doctrine.- 1. Natural Law Doctrine—inherent rights in inventions.- 2. The advent of the collectivist doctrine—the social utility of patents.- II. The Role of Patents Today.- A. Society and the Inventor Today.- 1. Who is doing the research ?.- 2. Who is supplying the financial means?.- 3. Who is using the results ?.- 4. Characteristics of inventive activity.- 5. The inventor and the innovator.- B. Validity of Traditional Considerations for Patent Grants.- 1. Utility of disclosure to society.- 2. Incentive to inventive activity.- 3. Just compensation to the inventor.- 4. The inventor’s right to his creation.- C. Later Justifications for the Patent Institution.- 1. Invention and innovation.- 2. Means to support costly research.- 3. Means to support individuals and small enterprise.- D. Criticism of the Patent Institution.- 1. The legal foundations.- 2. The economic foundations.- E. Alternatives to the Present Patent System.- 1. A system of general licenses.- 2. A general reward system.- 3. Substitution of general for special awards or abolishment.- III. The Development of an International Patent System.- A. The Climate Ripe for an International Order.- 1. The Vienna Exhibition of 1873.- 3. The Paris Exhibition of 1878.- 3. The Paris Conference 1880.- B. The Paris Convention for the International Protection of Industrial Property.- 1. The basic rules of procedure.- 2. The basic substantive rules of the Convention.- 3. Other original rules of the Convention concerning patents.- C. Revision Conferences.- 1. The revision conference of Brussels, 1897–1900.- 2. The revision conference of Washington 1911.- 3. The revision conference of the Hague 1925.- 4. The revision conference of London 1934.- 5. The revision conference of Lisbon 1958.- D. Some Characteristics of the Evolution of the Paris Union.- 1. Influence wielded by new members.- 2. Social vs. private interests.- 3. Legal vs. economic motives.- E. Other International Patent Agreements.- 1. Patent cooperation among American States.- 2. European patent cooperation.- 3. African patent cooperation.- Annex: Original text and revisions of rules concerning working obligations.- II. The Effects of the International Patent System on Developing Countries and Possible Changes of the System ror their Benefit.- I. The Status of Developing Countries in Patent Matters.- A. Countries Without a National Patent Law.- B. Countries with National Patent Laws, Non-Members of the Union.- C. Countries Members of the Union.- 1. Working requirements and sanctions for non-working.- 2. The position of dependent territories.- 3. Ratification of later texts.- II. The Direct Effects of the International Patent System on Developing Countries.- A. Significance of the Convention in Terms of Traditional Criteria.- 1. Economic considerations: the costs and benefits resulting from international patent protection.- 2. Legal considerations.- 3. National vs. individual interests.- B. Significance of the Convention According to Special Considerations.- 1. Transfer of technology.- 2. Incentive to foreign investments.- C. The Effectiveness of the International Patent System as a Vehicle for the Transfer of Technology to Developing Countries.- 1. Allocation of patent exploitation according to the traditional theory and the objectives of policies for economic development.- 2. “Spontaneous” local exploitation.- 3. Working obligations and sanctions for non-working.- D. The Application of the Convention to Countries of Fundamentally Different Strength.- III. Indirect Effects of the International Patent System.- A. International Cartels.- 1. International cartels in general.- 2. International cartels based on patent agreements.- 3. Contemporary prevalence of industrial cartels.- B. How Cartels Affect Developing Countries in Particular.- 1. Restrictions on international trade.- 2. Restrictions on investments.- 3. Restrictions on the spread of technology.- 4. Restrictions on the use and development of future technology.- C. Possible Remedial Actions.- IV. The Positions of various International Organizations.- A. The United Nations.- 1. The “Brazilian Resolution”.- 2. Interim report by the Secretary General.- 3. The Final Report.- 4. Further treatment of the question of patents and the transfer of technology.- B. The Activities of BIRPI.- 1. BIRPI’s influence on the work of various United Nations bodies.- 2. BIRPI’s activities for the benefit of developing countries.- C. The Activities of the International Chamber of Commerce.- D. The Activities of the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.- V. The scope for Remedies within the existing System.- A. Possible Remedies Under the Present Substantive Rules.- 1. The possibility to exclude or limit the application of the patent system for certain products and/or processes.- 2. Remedies against non-working and other abuses of patents.- B. Remedies Through Changing the Rules of the Convention.- VI. Possible Remedies Outside the Present System.- A. Cooperation among Developing Countries Themselves.- B. Basis and Justification for Preferential Treatment.- C. The Case for a Universal Patent Convention and the Present Dominant Position of the Paris Union.- D. The Case of the Universal Copyright Convention.- 1. The Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.- 2. The Universal Copywright Convention.- 3. The response of the Berne Union.- E. The World Intellectual Property Organization.- F. A Preferential Status for Developing Countries.- 1. A new international convention sponsored by the United Nations.- 2. A special status for developing countries within the Paris Union.- 3. Possible preferential rules.- G. Complementary Actions to Increase the Flow of Technology—Patented and Unpatented.- Conclusions.- Abbreviations used in the Bibliography.