In Patent and Trade Disparities in Developing Countries, Srividhya Ragavan examines the interaction between trade and intellectual property regimes (using the patent regime in India as the focal point) in an integrated developmental framework to determine how sustainable economic growth can be achieved in developing countries.

The dialectics of development policy debate is centered on knowledge protection vs. access to knowledge. Although 'knowledge' is conceptually a global public good, the harsh realities of markets as a socio-economic and political phenomenon demands certain set of policy and legal instruments in order to safeguard the constant process of knowledge creation and diffusion. Property is one such instrument. This property paradigm in ideational 'things' (i.e. the intellectual property system) has been extended universally through the global trade based regime called the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (in short: TRIPS Agreement), and is being pursued through a binding remedial system within the World Trade Organisation's Dispute Settlement Understanding (in short: the DSU). Since the dawn of industrialization, property skeptics have offered myriad reasons of its 'unjust' consequences on the poor and the subaltern. Patent system has grown out of constant distrust, but has never failed to admire the best of its critics. Prof. Srividhya Ragavan's academic contribution titled Patent and Trade Disparities in Developing Countries adds to the existing common pool of knowledge in this area. As the title of her book suggests, Prof. Ragavan is quite critical of the current policy paradigm of the patent system as perpetrated by the WTO and its effect on development policy. This review proceeds to offer a brief overview of the book, followed by an elaborate thematic analysis and ends with some suggestions as concluding thoughts.

What are the economics of patents? What problems arise in implementing a patent system? How much do distortions in developing countries affect the benefits and costs of a patent system? And what are the policies that would increase the likelihood of patents benefiting a developing country?

With respect to intellectual property regimes, a significant change in international governance rules is mandated by the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This topical volume deals with the processes th

An unprecedented surge in the scope and level of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection has been engulfing the world. This globalizing trend has shifted the balance of interests between private innovators and society at large and tensions have flared around key public policy concerns. As developing nations' policy options to use IPRs in support of their broader development strategy are being rapidly narrowed down, many experts are questioning the one-size-fits-all approach to IPR protection and are backing a rebalancing of the global regime. Developing countries face huge challenges when designing and implementing IPR-policy on all levels. This book offers perspectives from a diverse range of developing country participants including civil society participants, farmers, grassroots organizations, researchers and government officials. Contributions from well-known developed country authorities round out the selections.