TRIPS Agreement and Economic Development: Implications and Challenges for Least-Developed Countries like Bangladesh

Least-developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh could benefit from increasing demand and appropriate intellectual property rigths (IPRs) especially for patented agricultural and pharmaceutical goods. IPRs protection could be used as a vehicle for economic development through trade.1 By appropriating rights, the country could use its comparative advantage of reverse-engineering, adding value through adaptation of existing technology goods (knowledge goods) accessed in formal and non-formal means. However, as a part of ensuring economic benefits to innovators, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS)2 obliges its members, irrespective of their level of development, to offer strict IPRs protection in knowledge goods, including comprehensive control on technology diffusion. In theory, protection aims to foster beneficial technological development furthering innovation and increasing economic growth.3