[Ip-health] Thai saga

[Peter Drahos]

I do not believe that upping the royalty rate
will reduce the pressure on countries like
Thailand. During the Uruguay Trade Round, the US
made a lot of promises about backing off on its
trade unilateralism if developing countries
signed up to the WTO, TRIPS and its jolly nice
dispute resolution mechanism. The FTA IP jihad
followed soon after. I also think there may be
cases where .5% will be appropriate. Hard to see
how a country like Laos can afford much more.
Of course, this Thai saga has in part been about
sending a message to other countries in the
region about what to expect if they exercise
their lawful rights =AD Al Capone and the boys are
gonna pay you a visit and now there=92s a minimum rate you can=92t go below=
.
Chomsky somewhere has a nice line about
domination in the world today =AD =93the rule of law
for the weak, the rule of force for the strong=94

Peter Drahos