Mirza©/Economics of Technical Change A DILEMMA OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ♦ FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?1

The following paper summarizes the importance of intellectual property rights for the developed nations. The paper analyses the historical nature of the IPRs in the context of their implementation in the developing countries, covering the rationale for the dilemma of the developing countries for stronger IPR regime. The concern of the scientific communities is definite, obvious and particularly vulnerable to the limitations of the stronger intellectual property regimes in the developing nations. Different developing countries, with respect to their economic conditions have different concerns regarding the implementation of intellectual property rights. The paper will briefly examine the historical nature, through which the debate on the intellectual property rights implementation started, specifically in the United States, and its unilateral reinforcement of implementation. The paper would also discus the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) especially the TRIPS agreement, and its theoretical implications on the developing countries, the transition period offered by the agreement and its cost/benefit for developing countries