"If a true “modern bioeconomy” is to emerge in the years ahead, intellectual property will no doubt play a critical role. Intellectual property rights – the manner in which they are recognised, traded and managed, nationally as well as globally – will influence the form such a bioeconomy takes, where it will flourish and flounder, and to whom the principal benefits will flow..."1

"Intellectual property increasingly constitutes the terrain upon which disputes over North-South inequalities are waged..."

"No good case exists for the inequality of real and intellectual property, because no good case can exist for treating with special disfavor the work of the spirit and the mind." (Mark Helprin)

Should I file a patent application?

Conflicting Effects of IP Protection

Incentivising Innovation

Early studies based on data from individual countries found that patents positively influenced innovation by 15-25%. 2

Encouraging Openness

Creation of Monopoly

Other research expresses concern that patents on initial discoveries may delay, hamper, and deter innovations building on this patented work. 3

...But the paper warns against the dangers of continuing to analyse IP issues from within the 'innovation versus access' paradigm/dichotomy.