Archives

Keynote address delivered by Commerce and consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake at the Training Course on Intellectual Property for the Developing Countries of Asia and the Pacific Region at the SLFI.

The concept of intellectual property and its workings have intrigued me during a considerable period of time! Now, an opportunity has been provided me as the Minister responsible for the subject to have greater access to it and perhaps be of some assistance in its application to Sri Lanka.

I am grateful to the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and to the National Intellectual Property office of Sri Lanka for the invitation extended me and I look forward to exchanging views and ideas on this subject with those present here this evening. Intellectual property - its rights and enforcements - is undoubtedly of much significance to us who belong to developing nations. All of us have our own problems - with advantages and disadvantages that are peculiar to us.

Regarding the intricacies and complexities of intellectual property per se I believe that those of you present here this evening are likely to have greater in-depth knowledge than I do! I will not, in these circumstances, attempt to give a lecture on this subject. I hope, rather that we could collectively identify specifics of greatest advantage to us. We should also be able to those areas that may spell danger for our people. We need to explore all measures to safeguard and advance our people who, by the fact that they are the poorer sections of the world's population, need to get out of the poverty trap we have been caught in foot far too long.

When I was invited to speak here today, I spent some time thinking as to why intellectual property as an area of interest had assumed importance to me personally. I could think of two reasons. as an accountant I was trained to be alert to the need for regulation and protection of finance and investment in its various aspects. Most assets in these terms are measurable if not tangible! The idea of the intellect as property - and one that needed regulation and protection seemed initially an intriguing thought!

As you know, in the years gone by and to a large extent even today for most people - property is a material, quantifiable item. In the distant past, property meant wealth - and wealth meant power. The wealth of a nation was measured by the territory it owned - hence the age-old battles for land by rulers throughout the earth. At an individual level, too, the concept remained: the English squire and our own 'landed proprietor' were judged by his property. Wealth and power were the keys to success.

Inevitably, the aspirations of nations and of individuals were the acquisition of these ingredients of success. But somewhere along the line, a new concept seeped in. As the world progressed in the spheres of technology and information, knowledge and talent began to provide alternative sources of power a different picture began to emerge. Power increasingly shifted to the hands of those who had knowledge. Education, the skill and creativity became sources of wealth and power. New categories of the rich and the powerful came into being. In a way it was part of the inevitable continuous change that we are subjected to as "The old order changeth making way for new."

Since time immemorial man has fought to preserve his possessions as there have always emerged those who seek to take it away from him. The pirates of old roamed the even seas with ding raids on the wealth of others. Today's pirates roam the web with raids on the wealth. When, how and why did intellect and creativity take over as sources of power? These questions have been in my mind for many years.

There was, I said a second reason for my interest in the subject. You may recall that Sri Lanka become a signatory to the WIPO during the tenure of the late Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali. Looking back, it seems that his interest in the subject was part of that vision he had for a country that he believed could well be in the forefront of world developments - one that could meet up with the world that had left it behind. As we know by 1977 the country had slipped behind into another century.

We had isolated ourselves from the world - and naturally we were left behind. The most dangerous isolation, I feel, was not that physical one but the mental isolation that destroyed the future of entire generations. Leaders like Mr. Athulathmudali foresaw the need to enter the world of reality - and the future was no doubt with information and knowledge. His initiation of the country's involvement with international intellectual poverty matters was a further reflection of his interests in promoting knowledge and information dissemination. It was this latter that brought about the new established Mahapola Concept and that introduced the idea of a Young Inventors Award. He foresaw what many others do now that knowledge, communication are the passwords to the future.

Today, we seem perched at a parallel moment in our history. Both internal and external factors as you know had caused a downturn in all aspects of our progress. the economic prospects were indeed bleak at the end of last year. They were bleak for other states, too, but "the race for survival" as an issue of regional magazine puts it, began earlier than anyone expected it to. "Asia's Economies Ready to Run" declares the cover page of a January issue of a regional magazine. In meeting this challenge, the first past the post will no doubt be the alert and the prepared.

What will be the role of intellectual property protection and regulation in such a context? If we glance back at the evolution of the concept of intellectual property, we see the gradual development of one based on the interests of a single nation in a single purpose being transformed into one that encompasses almost the entirety of knowledge and information in the modern world. As I understand it, patents for inventions had their origins in Italy of the Renaissance period when the Republic of Venice passed a patents law as far back as in the 15th Century. The purpose of this apparently was to attract foreign engineers with incentives for the use of their inventions. It seems somehow apt that Italy, with artistic traditions that created monuments that stand even today, saw the origin of attempts to safeguard the creativity of her people. In addition, as you know Italy was the fount of many legal enactments that have stood the test of time. So the essential combination of skills existed.

With time it seems that other nations woke up to the advantages and the need for protecting the well-being of the community and the need too to encourage inventors and creators within their nations. However, in the modern era it is evident that trade - local, regional and international-has increasingly come to the forefront as economic determinators. Therefore the impact of trade and trading concerns on matters of intellectual property no doubt come to the surface. This perhaps was the base of the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) that came into being in 1994. The fact that approximately 100 countries are signatories to this Agreement is testimony in itself to the need-experienced by both developed and developing states for preserving and informing intellectual; property rights and regulations.

Furthermore we live today "in a world which is changing every two weeks' as a columnist in local publication observed. Perhaps the boundaries of territory have been explored by mankind of the past. The boundaries of knowledge and information, on the contrary are being stretched yearly, if not monthly. It seems as if human intellect is there the last unexplored territory - one that could well yield richer dividends than those yielded by geographical explorations. These are realities we must face - even though as developing nations it seems the battle is unequal.

We cannot go against the fact that such rights will continue to assume an increasingly important role in the years to come. At the same time there seems to be areas of dissent between the developed and developing nations on some of the issues under discussion. The basic argument of the developed countries, of course, is that protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights will lead too greater international trade that will in turn be beneficial to everyone. However, it is obvious that as the developed are the main explorers of intellectual property the benefit may well be heavily loaded on their side! On the other side of the coin is the argument that even though such protection may initially harm the developing nations, they will in time reap the benefits. Yet one reason for caution at this point.

A vast number of our people cannot afford to wait for tomorrow. They cannot sacrifice today because, for one reason, they have very little to sacrifice. They need help and protection now. However, as has been pointed out on many occasions, is the fact that developing nations, by and large, are in the forefront absorbing the current wave of technological progress set in motion by developed countries.

In this context, I recall the observations of a columnist analyzing the current Asian effort to bounce back. He stated that Asia's genius lies in the ability of her people to adapt and adopt. He comments that the old adage "Necessity is the mother of invention" has been turned into a new one "Diversity is the child of necessity". We know there is much to be said for this. We recall how Japan rose from the ashes of the First World War.

Today we hear of ingenious innovations and ingenuities of people in the region resulting in creative productions. In such a climate, the need for intellectual property protection will surely increase. We need to think ahead. It will, I believe, benefit us to have" Short time pain but long term gains." However, to many people within developing countries benefits of intellectual property protection and enforcement yet appear to be in the distant future! They have even argued that protections of IP will in fact retard their economic progress. The reasoning behind this is that as such countries cannot afford to pay for the high price original products they are forced to permit the usage of substitutes.

There are very clear instances of this situations. As we all know Africa is facing the deadly scourge of HIV on a hitherto unprecedented scale. The developed countries are spending Millions of dollars on research and development of drugs to meet this threat. Ultimately if and when such drugs are manufactured the swiftest returns will go back to those developed states - via their own corporations and multinationals. In effect, while millions of poverty stricken human beings die in agony in one part of the world millions are spent on manufacturing products that the sick cannot afford to buy and that are too late for the dying!

There is another argument put forward by the protectors of IP - that of ethics. It is true that one individual should not 'nab' the inventions of another or 'pick his brains' this is pure robbery; it benefits the robber and should then be dealt with as a crime! But, the argument of those groups within developing nations that are suspicious of the objectives of IP regulations have asked the question - "What is the ethical stand in a situation such as the one related to the HIV sufferers in so many parts of the world?" The bit is true of other diseases - for instance. There are facts that must be faced. There are large numbers who cannot afford to purchase the original products - and would be content with substitutes if these were effective.

These arguments and counter-arguments illustrate the delicacy of the situation - the responsibility of governments when taking decisions in such vital areas.

The Government of Sri Lanka today is making every effort to establish and re-establish concepts, links and programmers that will lead us into the future. We have had an overdose of living for the day, of dissecting the past. What we need, if I may be permitted to re phrase the words of Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon "A giant leap into the future". In this context we need to think clearly of that step ahead. We may need, as an Asian publication commented to suffer "Short term pain for long term gain".

We are also much concerned about certain new issues such as the protection of traditional knowledge, folklore and bio-diversity. The new developments particularly in the areas of information technology including e-commerce are crucially important to us. It is also important to look after the interests and needs of poorer and under privileged sections of society.

In these circumstances, our program on intellectual property cover several areas such as:

a. introduction of modern legal regime including enhanced enforcement mechanism
b. efficient and user-friendly Intellectual Property Administrative System.
c. awareness building, and
d. promotion and encouragement of creative activity

The assistance and co-operation that we are receiving from WIPO in our efforts are very much encouraging and extremely helpful. I take this opportunity to thank sincerely WIPO and its Director General for all the assistance extended to Sri Lanka in particular and to Asia Pacific Region in general for the promotion and productive use of intellectual property system. It is our hope that the development co-operation activities of WIPO will be further strengthened and expanded.

The organization of the WIPO-Regional Intellectual Property Training Course for developing Nations in Sri Lanka is an opportune moment for discussion of our own and common issues and a forum for further actions. I am confident that the opportunity will be seized and that the Conference would pave the way to valid decision and activities that would help us all to go forward with confident into the future.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager