The impact of the Intellectual Property Rights Act for publicly funded research and development on technology transfer offices was studied, using a questionnaire survey and guided interviews of six technology transfer officers. The survey requested technology transfer officers to express the impact level of each of the eleven impact elements on the four stages of intellectual property development – these being intellectual property creation, disclosure, protection and commercialisation. The set of data was weighted for each element, by intellectual property development stage, and analysed using frequency tables. The impact elements of „structural and resource requirements to commercialise and manage intellectual property‟, „intellectual property detection process by the technology transfer officers‟, and‟ disclosure process‟ were ranked as the top three impact elements, in that respective order. Narrative inquiry and theme extraction allowed further elaboration of the impact elements. Comparison with Staphorst‟s (2010) results showed that the impact elements were different for science councils, pointing to unique requirements by universities in their intellectual property management systems. The results of this analysis clearly indicate that the Intellectual Property Rights Act enforcement and execution will demand a high degree of structural and resource requirements, particularly, and most importantly, at the intellectual property disclosure stage of intellectual property development. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The diploma thesis deals with licence contract for industrial property rights under conditions of international trade. The first part describes basics of the discipline called intellectual property rights and mutual relation to industrial property rights. Furthermore the thesis includes relation between licence contract for industrial property rights and other contracts governed by private law. The second part is concerned with licence contract itself, including relation to licence governed by copyright law. Last but not least it deals with option contract and so called know how licence.

Accompanying the globalisation of the world economy and the internationalisation of Chinese CBs, the research in terms of the international competitiveness of the CBI and Chinese CBs has become urgent and significant. The motivations and targets of this research are to understand the status quo of international competitiveness of the CBI and Chinese CBs; to recognise the actual gap in the aspects of international competitiveness between Chinese CBs and the Western advanced CBs; to find out the issues and main causes that existed in and determined the international competitiveness of Chinese CBs; and to work out the approaches to solve the issues and boost the international competitiveness of the CBI and Chinese CBs. According to the analyses of the international background, domestic context and specific situation, and the review of previous relevant literatures in terms of the international competitiveness and international competitiveness of CB, the general framework of this research is based on the fundamental theory – New Institutional Economics (NIE), especially the Institutional Change Theory (ICT), and applied four key factors – Business Scale, Profitability, Asset Quality and Overseas Business Margin, as well as some necessary macro and micro -specific determinants, to multi-dimensionally examine and comprehensivelyevaluate the real level of international competitiveness of the CBI and some Chinese CBs during the last three decades, in particular during the last decade since 2003. This basic framework established the theoretical foundation for this research; it is the general framework that is jointly consisted of the constitution, determinants and evaluation sub-frameworks of international competitiveness of CB. In this research, the international competitiveness of CB mainly includes: Business Scale International Competitiveness, Profitability International Competitiveness, Soundness International Competitiveness and Overseas Business International Competitiveness. These four aspects of international competitiveness of CB can be all measured by relative indicators that can be calculated through relative financial data; thus, the international competitiveness of CB could be then synthetically, directly andexternally evaluated and reflected. Basically, the determined framework of international competitiveness of CB is referred to reveal how the international competiveness of CB is determined. According to the value theory of dialectical-materialism, object development is decided by its internal and external causes; therefore, in this research, the scale, management, technology and international administration are considered as the major internal factors to determine the international competitiveness of CB, while the governmental functions, horizontal industrial competition, market supply and demands, and industrial trend at home and abroad are suggested as themajor external factors to reflect the international competitiveness of CB. Based on the determined framework and the internal-external cause theory, as well as considering the cross-border competition as the mainstream of the international competition for CBs, it can be seen that the deciding model and evaluation model are combined together to set up the overall models for evaluating and reflecting the international competitiveness of China’s CBs. According to the results calculated by the models, the separate and joint evaluations are made to jointly estimate the real level of international competitiveness of Chinese CBs; then the internal and external critical analyses are taken into consideration to reveal how the internal and external major factors reflect and influence the international competitiveness of CBI. Finally, a set of approaches in terms of how to further improve and boost the internationalcompetitiveness of the CBI and Chinese CBs are accordingly suggested. The findings of this research present that the historical evolution of China’s banking is fundamentally driven by the institutional changes and the shifts of administrative ideologies of the CCP; and intrinsically influenced by the dominant culture of Confucianism in China. The international competitiveness of the CBI has been increasingly improving, in particular since 2003; the development of the CBI has been actually always adhering to the reform and opening-up guideline in terms of “Crossing the River by Touching the Stones”, and the internationalisation of the CBI has been mostly suggested to insist on a strategy of “Incremental Approach”, which also represents the Way of the Golden Mean (Zhong Yong Zhi Dao) of Confucian ideology and acting philosophy. According to the evaluation results, Chinese CBs hold a very strong IC on the Business Scale and Home-base Profitability; their Soundness IC has bee also hugely improved; however, if comparing with their foreign advanced peers, such like HSBC and JP Morgan etc., their overseas business IC has been relatively much weaker; this means that the internationalisation of CBI and Chinese CB still has a long way to go to strategically catch up and explore. Additionally, other sense of the banking industry is also highly recognised. The real essence of China’s banking reform has been eventually designed by the elites and ultimately influenced by the special interest groups. The fundamental issues of the banking sector have been not completely handled; the financial ecology of the banking business has been one of the greatest factors for the banking performance; the international competitiveness of Chinese CBs has been mostly country-specific and home-based; and the whole banking system has been seemingly-seriously captured by the housing market and the municipal platform debts; hence, these huge potential operating risks have been seriously concerned. Conclusively, the international competitiveness of Chinese CBs would have been significantly damaged if the banking industry could not be further improve the regulatory regime, optimise the business environment, reform the corporate governance structure, consummate the operational system; and work out the deep and ingenerate issues such as lending mechanism, profitability model, risk management, technological innovation, political intervention, internationalising strategy, etc. Even though this researcher has taken great efforts to make his own contributions in this project, the findings and conclusions are still thought to be not sophisticate and significant enough; hence, further research of this specific theme will be more deepening and focusing, in particular on the improvement of the research methodology, the data collection and the financial ecology of the CBI.

The Thesis analyses the impact that humanly devised institutions, defined as “formal and informal constraints on political, economic, and social interactions”, have on international trade and the patterns comparative advantage. The key assumption of the Thesis is that although institutions impact on the whole economy they may influence some sectors more than others. Industry‘s dependence on institutions is a technological feature of production. Hence, for example, industries that require a large number of intermediate inputs for production will be more dependent on the quality of contract enforcement regulation for their growth. The Thesis analyses 4 different sub-components of institutional quality: contract enforcement, financial development, property rights and labour market institutions. The Thesis’ hypotheses regarding each of these sub-components are as follows: 1. Countries with more efficient contract enforcement regulations will specialize (have a comparative advantage) in more complex sectors that depend on contracts with suppliers/producers for their growth.2. Countries with more secure property rights will specialize in sectors that are more dependent on intangible assets for production.3. Countries with higher financial development will have a comparative advantage in sectors that are more dependent on external finance for their growth.4. Countries with more flexible labour markets will specialize in more volatile industries. In order to test these assumptions we construct three econometric models (Chapters 4-6). In Chapter 4 we assess how contract enforcement regulations, financial development, property rights and labour market institutions impact on trade volumes using a well-known gravity model. In Chapter 5 we test whether these sub-components have an impact on growth of value-added at industry level. Finally, in chapter 6 the impact on firms’ productivity is tested. The results show that contract enforcement regulations and financial development affect countries’ comparative advantage by affecting countries trade flows, value-added and productivity in a way consistent with the hypothesis. The results regarding the other two institutional sub-components are mixed but we do find some evidence the countries with more secure property rights export more and have higher value-added growth in sectors that are more dependent on intangible assets. These results are robust to different specifications. Using a novel set of instrumental variables we show that causality runs from institutions to trade, value-added and productivity rather than the reverse. We supplement the empirical evidence with a case-study of Lesotho’s textiles and garment industry and also find some evidence that this export-oriented industry emerged in Lesotho at least partly due to this country’s good institutions that are better than its African competitors. From a policy perspective our results imply that institutional and regulatory reform - especially in enforcement of contracts and financial sector regulations - may enhance the capacity of poor countries to move up to specialization into higher-valued products and to reap benefits from international integration.

The abundance of wealth and technology in the North, and biological diversity and poverty in the South provokes an inquiry into an appropriate modality for the equitable harnessing and allocation of biodiversity dividends. Over the years, the traditional knowledge relating to biological diversity has been regarded as part of the "global intellectual commons", open to exploitation by all, and subject to validation by formal methods. That knowledge has remained the source of both increasing knowledge and critical discoveries of the therapeutic values of most components of biological diversity. There is a consensus between the North and the South that an effective biodiversity conservation strategy should be one capable of providing incentives to the traditional custodians of wild habitat. Intellectual property is generally recognised as an appropriate framework to implement this objective. However, as a perennial subject of North-South disagreement, there is no consensus on the relevant details or mechanisms for deploying intellectual property rights to effectuate the objective. The United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signifies a global regime embodying the ideals of incentivising the traditional custodians of the wild habitat as well as equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity. Arguably, it marks an end to the idea of regarding traditional knowledge as part of the global intellectual commons. This thesis contends that the CBD regime carries with it the burden of unresolved North-South perspectives on intellectual property rights. It argues that the heart of the conflict is the reluctance of the North to accord intellectual property status to traditional knowledge. This is partly because of the latter's informal nature but most importantly it derives from an inherent geo-political ideological conflict on the subject of intellectual property rights. Presently, the recognition of rights over traditional knowledge is approached on a sui generis basis. This thesis takes the position that the approach with its several limitations is not persuasive. It contends that on the merits, traditional knowledge is, and ought to be recognised as a subject matter of intellectual property rights. The recent elevation of intellectual property (a traditional subject matter of national law) to the international level under the WTO/TRIPs Agreement further undermines traditional knowledge. This has posed a setback not only to the global biodiversity conservation initiative, but also to the quest for equitable allocation of its dividends. It is my thesis that a national approach offers a better option for accommodating the intellectual property status of traditional knowledge and consequentially for advancing the quest for biodiversity conservation as well as equitable allocation of the dividends arising therefrom. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The aim of this Master's Thesis is to explore, analyze and discuss of the role and position of the innovation policies' ecosystems, the role of incentives in general and particularly within the sphere of intellectual property rights (IPR). The paper consists of two key parts. Firstly, it discuss the role of innovation, justification of incentives and purpose of the IPR protection as the means of addressing market failures, which hinder the innovation process, especially for the small and medium enterprises. Secondly, analysis was conducted within the series of case studies, including Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, United States, China and India. The divergence of the list of countries should provide representative list of measures and incentives employed and utilized in various systems of Innovation governance. Overall findings are compared with the system in the Czech Republic in order to provide prospects for the potential adjustments.

Internet piracy has recently been addressed by several policies introduced in US, such as SOPA and ACTA. These policies suggest the general opinion to be that piracy reduce profits. The focus of this thesis is therefore put on the introduction of theoretical concept capable of describing possible piracy impacts and then showing empirical observations to prove it. We developed our own modified time-dependent model of demand function with network effect, which suggests that piracy can have indeed different results on producers' profits depending on the conditions. Further, we showed on real data that the resulting piracy effect in film industry is indefinite and piracy in other industries results in various outcomes.

In the wake of diversifying economy through science and technology, the government of Botswana is particularly inclined to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). IPR in its nature of advocating exclusive rights by the creator comes into direct conflict with the practice and understanding of IKS as community property, and a shared resource. To date, there is very little research work that explores policymakers’ knowledge about IPR and IKS in developing countries. Botswana, a developing country is yet to benefit from this type of research. This research investigated policymakers’ knowledge and practices of IPR on IKS in Botswana. The focus was on policymakers’ knowledge and practices, interaction with policy, and how their actions could be understood and explained. The study was conducted in four government departments, and one non-governmental organisation. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to collect data. The findings of the study show that there is general lack of understanding about IPR in the public domain. Policymakers nonetheless know quite substantially about IPR and very little about IKS. This position puts indigenous knowledge on the periphery, and on the brink of being swallowed by other technologies. Moreover, the study uncovered evidence that the IPR and IKS activities are fragmented and policymakers treat each other with a great deal of suspicion and misunderstanding, hence affecting successful implementation of policy and projects particularly between two units in the study- the ministry of Communication, Science and Technology and the ministry of Trade and Industry. The study concludes by arguing that policymakers still require a great deal of assistance to really make sense of their practice. A lot of teaching and learning about policy is necessary to encourage broader participation in science policymaking in the context of a developing country like Botswana. / Dissertation (MEd (Science and Technology Education))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This paper aim to analyze the role that such a concepts like family, inheritance and property played for developing modern Argentine society. Especially how some principles were broken on, while others have been kept on, as the different legal criteria suggests. Rural Law of 1865, Civil Law of 1869 and juridical debates set the interaction rules among different notion of property rights and also different way for labor hiring, either into market rules or out of them. These kind of relations and their coexistent avoided to expand cattle business in a market way. / Este ensayo apunta a analizar el rol que conceptos como familia, herencia y propiedad jugaron para el desarrollo de la moderna sociedad argentina. Especialmente acerca de las rupturas y continuidades que sugieren los diferentes criterios. Los debates jurídicos y los Códigos Rurales de 1865 y Civil de 1869 buscaron resolver el problema de la convivencia en tierras pampeanas de formas diversas de propiedad, así como la existencia de una fuerza de trabajo que poseía formas de supervivencia extra mercado. Ambas situaciones dificultaban o entorpecían, las necesidades de un grupo social que apuntaba a la expansión ganadera.

Enquanto o mundo discute os esforços para combater as alterações climáticas globais, reconhece-se cada vez mais o papel vital das florestas na manutenção do bem-estar ecológico, social, econômico e cultural. Reafirma-se a importância da definição dos direitos de propriedade (posse e uso) sobre as florestas que pode determinar o seu destino. Para muitos países, as políticas de gestão de florestas combinam vários modos de acesso e gestão como i) áreas protegidas; ii) concessões florestais com critérios de gestão baseados em desempenho; iii) a devolução de áreas de florestas para as comunidades tradicionais e povos indígenas que farão sua gestão.O maior desafio é cumprir o planejado e implantar os diversos modos de gestão florestal para alcançar os objetivos sociais, econômicos e ambientais previstos face à pressão dos interesses econômicos internos e externos. A concessão de florestas é a forma dominante de gestão em quase todos os países da África Central e Ocidental. Ela também é o tipo dominante de exploração de florestas na Ásia (Malásia, Indonésia, Papua-Nova Guiné e Camboja). Na segunda metade dos anos 90, com o forte apoio de projetos de cooperação multilateral e de ONGs internacionais, a Bolívia introduziu a concessão florestal como um modo de conceder direitos de posse e uso sobre florestas. No Brasil, após duas tentativas fracassadas, o governo aprovou sua nova lei de gestão de florestas públicas em 2006. Bolívia e Brasil têm muito em comum em relação aos conflitos fundiários e desafios para impor novas regras relativas à maneira como as florestas podem ser exploradas nas suas regiões amazônicas, principalmente. Este trabalho de investigação centra-se sobre os principais obstáculos enfrentados pelas autoridades florestais bolivianas e brasileiras para implantar as concessões florestais na escala inicialmente prevista. O desenvolvimento do trabalho demandou a mobilização de duas correntes teórico-metodológicas. Por um lado, buscou-se um mapeamento dos modos pelos quais os indivíduos e grupos se apropriam e formulam regras para gerir porções de florestas. Por outro lado, a abordagem teórica da sociologia econômica, mais precisamente os trabalhos de Neil Fligstein e sua abordagem política-cultural, forneceu elementos para avaliar o processo de organização social da produção florestal madeireira nas duas regiões estudadas, que depende de quatro fatores: i) os direitos de propriedade, ii) as estruturas de governança, iii) as regras de troca e iv) as concepções de controle. A abordagem política-cultural considera a participação dos atores sociais como governos, empresas e consumidores, entre outros, e os incentivos para ações de cooperação com base nos laços cognitivos que os ligam. O estudo centrou-se na região amazônica de cada país: nas terras baixas bolivianas e, no Brasil, na região da rodovia Cuiabá-Santarém (BR-163). Isto porque estas regiões são os principais alvos para implantação de concessões florestais. Mostra-se neste estudo que sob um cenário de confusão fundiária, no qual há batalhas por pedaços dos territórios florestais e onde as alianças políticas são forjadas para favorecer outros padrões de uso das terras, a aplicação de concessões florestais em grande escala pode ser inviabilizada ou ficar bastante reduzida. / As the world is preparing to scale up its efforts to combat global climate change, groups are increasingly recognizing the vital role forests play in maintaining ecological, social, economic and cultural well-being. They are beginning to affirm more that forest tenure plays a fundamental role in determining the fate of the worlds forests. In many countries, questions are raised on whether tropical forests should be publicly, commonly or privately owned. For many countries the forest management policies will likely involve a combination of: i) protected areas of sufficient size to provide habitat protection, and in a contiguous pattern; ii) forest concessions with enforceable performance-based management criteria; iii) community forests and community forest concessions managed by communities and indigenous groups. The challenge is to undertake the land use planning commitment and implementation to achieve this in the face of pressure from internal and external interests. Forest concessions of various types are the dominant form of forest tenure in almost all the forest countries of West and Central Africa. They are also the dominant types of forest tenure in Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Cambodia). In South America, Peru and Bolivia introduced forest concession as a possible tenure model in the early 90s with the strong support of international NGOs. In Brazil, after two failed attempts, the government has passed its new forest management law in 2006. Bolivia and Brazil have much in common regarding forest tenure conflicts and challenges to enforce new rules in the forestry sector. Forest concession implementation in these countries has generated many expectations and investments in law changes.This research work focuses on the main barriers faced by Bolivian and Brazilian forest authorities in implementing forest concession on the scale initially planned. The studies required a mapping of the property rights regimes over forest and forest resources as well as a theoretical approach of economic sociology. This approach, which provides elements to evaluate the process of social market construction, is dependent upon four essential factors: property rights, governance structures, rules of exchange and conceptions of control. The political-cultural approach emphasizes the historic perspective of the markets to understand the role of dominant groups and challengers in action arenas. It also considers the participation of social actors like governments, firms and consumers, among others, and their incentives for cooperative actions based on the cognitive ties that bind them. This empiric study focused on each countrys geographically-delimited regions of Amazon: in the Bolivian lowlands region and in the Brazilian Cuiabá-Santarém Highway (namely BR-163). Thats because they are the main targets for forest concession implementation. We show in this study that under a tenure uncertainty scenario, in which there are battles for territorial pieces and political alliances are forged that prefer other land use (and forests uses also) patterns the forest concessions implementation on a large scale will be jeopardized in these territories.