| Topic | Conventional Wisdom (citation) | Reality Check |
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| Bases for the Report | Assumes that (pp.iii-iv): - TRIPS creates high, unitary PP standards that hurt developing countries
- TRIPS is slanted against developing countries
- IPP harms public health
| The Report's pre-determined conclusions are based on questionable assumptions. In reality: - For the most part, TRIPS incorporates pre-existing minimum international standards present in other international treaties (TRIPS is the floor, not the ceiling)
- developing countries do and will have ideas and innovation worthy of protection; and they need TRIPS to commercialize their inventions and to prevent brain-drain
- development follows IPP, not the reverse
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| Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) | Weaker IPP will benefit the world's poor (p.__); IPP systems and policy may introduce distortions detrimental to the interests of developing countries. (p.9) | Strong IPP are critical in providing incentives for innovation, including research into finding new cures for diseases particularly affecting developing countries as well as diseases affecting all of humankind. |
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| TRIPS protections | TRIPS protections are not a significant determinant of economic growth. (p.26) | TRIPS provides the flexibility to take into account public health needs of developing countries, and actions taken by developing countries demonstrate that the TRIPS approach is practical and workable. |
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| IPP and Public Health | IPP systems do not stimulate research on diseases prevalent in developing countries (except for diseases also prevalent in developed countries. (p.38) | It is simplistic and incorrect to blame IPP for healthcare crises in the developing world. Few patent applications for innovative medicines are filed in developing countries (even though such patents are generally available). Fully 98% of essential medicines needed in developing countries are not protected by patents. |
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| Compulsory Licensing | Developing countries should make broad use of compulsory licensing to facilitate availability of lower cost medicines. (pp. 49-61) | Compulsory licenses are a legitimate but an exceptional remedy for use only in the case of market failure or significant abuse of a patent. (See TRIPS Article 31) Compulsory licensing does not facilitate technology transfer or encourage FDI — the real needs of developing countries to improve public health. |
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| Differential Pricing | Differential pricing should be a way of ensuring that poorer people obtain less expensive products. (p.48) | Pharmaceutical companies participate in the Accelerating Access Initiative, an initiative between the United Nations and pharmaceutical companies that strives to make HIV/AIDS medicines and equipment more available and affordable in developing countries. |
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| Trademark Protection | The Report overlooks the TRIPS provisions on trademarks. | TRIPS Article 16 is an important tool for consumers in developing countries to avoid lower quality products. |
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| Counterfeit Medicines | The Report ignores the real and increasing dangers of counterfeit medicines to consumers in developing countries. | The adverse public health impact of counterfeit drugs is enormous, and as a consequence counterfeit drugs erode public confidence in healthcare systems and professionals. See Protecting Medicines & Pharmaceuticals: A Manual of Anticounterfeiting Solutions, Reconnaissance International (2002) |
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| Agriculture and Genetic Resources | Developing countries should not provide patent protection for plants because they threaten farmers' traditional practices of reusing, exchanging and selling seeds. (pp. 66, 75) | Strong IPP is critical to provide incentives and protection for innovation regardless of industry, including research based on plants and seeds, and IPP has a fundamental role to play in crop research and innovation and therefore in social development. |
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| Traditional Knowledge | There is room for debate about traditional knowledge. To prevent misappropriation of TK through patents, TK must be catalogued in digital databases. (p. 82-93) | All TRIPS protections, along with contract protections available under national legal regimes, should be used to protect traditional knowledge. The USG should continue to explore opportunities within WIPO to provide effective protection for TK. |
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| Copyright | TRIPS-required strong protection and enforcement of copyrights would reduce access to knowledge-related products in developing countries, with potentially damaging consequences for poor people. (p.112) | The Report adopts a neo-colonialist view that developing countries cannot develop without adopting illegal means, such as pirating software, source code, music, literature and the like. |
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| Patent Reform | The best patent system for developing countries may be one that applies strict standards of patentability and results in fewer patents meeting these criteria. (p.136-137) | The benefits of IPP in the medium to long terms in the form of increased foreign direct investment, technology transfer, and local product development, vastly outweigh traditional costs. |
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| Institutional Capacity | Developing countries should not divert resources from already over-extended health and education budgets to subsidize the administration of an IPP system. (p.25) | WIPO and OECD countries have an obligation to provide technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries. These efforts are crucial for developing countries to achieve the benefits of TRIPS. |
