Arab Knowledge Report 2009: Towards Productive

Arab countries havebeen absent fromthe negotiationsspecifically devotedto intellectualproperty, toknowledge access,and to efforts tocombat internationalmonopoliesand externalmonopolisticpressuresLegislation onintellectual propertyand its applicationhas been passedin Arab countrieswithout regardfor their particularcircumstancesof freedom of intellectual property tosubsidise their knowledge industries, withpositive impacts on development. Forexample, in 2007, by national decree, Brazilused the flexibility related to compulsorylicensing for immune deficiency medicationand obtained permission to import anequivalent alternative from India (Martini,2008). Such actions stem from a clearvision which stipulates that the individualcitizen’s right to health is a constitutionalright guaranteed to all citizens (Shaver,2008) and have led to a more than 70 percent drop in the price of the medication.Likewise, India has been careful to promotethe manufacture of generic drugs andinvest in them. It has also decided thatsoftware programmes do not fall underthe rubric of inventions and thus are notsubject to the patent restrictions 22 thatlimit the exchange of knowledge andparticipation in its production. Theseactions reflect a vision intent on promotingknowledge industries.GLOBAL DEBATE, ARABABSENCENaturally, we now find in the global arenaa clear polarization in stances betweenadvanced countries on the one hand anddeveloping ones on the other. This makesdebate and discussion, with an enlargedcircle of participants, doubly importantand adds impetus to the dialogue.Nevertheless, Arab countries have nopresence, no active participation, in thismomentous global discussion. They havealso been absent from the negotiationsspecifically devoted to intellectual property,to knowledge access, and to efforts tocombat international monopolies andexternal monopolistic pressures. Egyptmay be the only Arab country to haveparticipated in a number of internationalefforts calling for freedom of intellectualproperty for developing countries. Theseefforts include setting up a group ofdevelopment-friendly countries, draftinga development document in 2004,launching the Access to Knowledgeinitiative, and making a rough draft of atreaty for it in 2005. This treaty is stillunder discussion internationally.Perhaps one of the most importantaxes of global discussion and debate isthat of access to knowledge. This involves“the necessity of applying protection ina way that supports development andthe spread of knowledge, especially bymaximizing countries’ ability to benefitfrom the flexibilities and exceptionspresent in legislation for the protection ofintellectual freedom.” Among the mostimportant of these are the exclusions forthe purposes of education and scientificresearch and the manufacture of genericdrugs classified by quality. Most Arabcountries have not made full use of theexceptions and provisions for flexibilityin the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual PropertyRights (TRIPS) agreement of 1994, theagreement of international reference thatgoverns all countries in their dealings withthe intellectual property issue. Flexibilityincludes numerous facets, most prominentof which are flexibility in implementation,extended grace periods for the intellectualproduct, standard setting, 23 andimplementation of intellectual projects,especially anything connected to educationand scientific research.While NGOs and consumer groupsfrom other developing countriesparticipate in the global debate onfostering knowledge and development,Arab civil society is absent from a globalscene that is witnessing effective actionfrom a number of countries in Africa,Asia, and South America. Arab debateon the subject is limited to the localpurview among a restricted circle of legalspecialists, as if the issue did not extendbeyond the cloisters of the halls of justice.Legislation on intellectual propertyand its application has been passed inArab countries without regard for thesecountries’ particular circumstances andtheir need to benefit from the exceptionsand privileges that international schoolsprovide. Neither does this legislation78 ARAB KNOWLEDGE REPORT 2009