Patents and Trade Development
The esoteric and complicated rules about patents, copyright, trademarks and other so-called 'intellectual property rights (IPRs)' increasingly affect Quaker concerns with justice, conflict prevention and the environment.
These rules:
- may restrict access to medicines, seed saving, use of traditional knowledge, and the sharing of scientific and other knowledge;
- affect the distribution of power and wealth, influence who drives the direction and pace of technological change and what individuals can do.
Today these rules are often set globally in remote international bodies like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation(WIPO), both based in Geneva.
Links to the four trade and patents documents written by Quaker United Nations Office Geneva and Quaker International Affairs Programme (Canada):