The intellectual property rights which encompass patents,trademarks,copyrights,industrial designs, trade secrets ete. have gained an inercasing importance since the '80s. The revealed aim of protecting intellectual property rights is to encourage innovation and forms of creative expressian by guarenteeing for the innovators and the developers an exclusive right to an appropriate return on their innovation. The innovators of intellectual property in the developed countries have always favoured a strong intcllectual property regime. On the other hand, the users and importers have less interest in that mattcr. The TRIPs Agreement, which is one of the major outcomes of the Uruguay Round, provides for improved levels of protection for the rights of the owners of all types of intellectual property. The proponents of the TRIPs assert that, more protection secured by the agreement will encourage R and D in both the developed and developing countries and induce foreign direct investments. The critics on the other hand, point out that, the TRIPs Agreement is heavily biased in favour of the monopoly rights of the patentees from the developed countries and will effectively restrict access to new scientific and technological knowledge.
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