Poor People's Knowledge : Helping Poor People to Earn from Their Knowledge

Finger, J. Michael

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE;    WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION;    POOR PEOPLE;    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY;    PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3205
RP-ID  :  WPS3205

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

How can we help poor people to earn morefrom their knowledge rather than from their sweat andmuscle? This paper draws lessons from projects intended topromote and protect the innovation, knowledge, and creativeskills of poor people in poor countries, particularly toimprove the earnings of poor people from such knowledge andskills. The international community has paid considerableattention to problems associated with intellectual propertythat poor countries buy-such as the increased cost ofpharmaceuticals brought on by the WTO's agreement onthe Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS).This paper is about the other half of thedevelopment-intellectual property link. It is about theknowledge poor people own, create, and sell rather thanabout what they buy.The paper calls attention to a broadrange of poor people's knowledge that has commercialpotential. It highlights the incentives for and concerns ofpoor people-which may be different from those of corporateresearch, northern nongovernmental organizations, or evenentertainment stars from developing countries who alreadyenjoy an international audience. The studies find thatincreased earnings is sometimes a matter of poor peopleacquiring commercial skills. Legal reform, though oftennecessary, is frequently not sufficient. Moreover, the paperconcludes that the need for novel legal approaches toprotect traditional knowledge has been overemphasized.Standard instruments such as patents and copyrights areoften effective. Rather than legal innovation, there is aneed for economic and political empowerment of poor peopleso that they have the skills to use such instruments and theinfluence to insist that institutional structures respond totheir interests. Finally, the paper concludes that there isminimal conflict between culture and commerce. There aremany income-earning expressions of culture, and it isincorrect to presume that expressions of culture must alwaysbe income-using.