Sustainable technology transfer

Redaktör

Hans Henrik Lidgard

Summary, in English

There are more than eighty international

agreements and many additional programmes

dealing with technology transfer. Moreover,

several international conventions require that

aid programs, both to address acute

emergencies and to assist in the longer-term

building of viable infrastructures, be undertaken

in specific and concrete ways. However,

problems inevitably arise when good intentions

are put to the test, particularly in connection

with rights to the ownership of intellectual

property assets. Some even claim that it is only

when IPRs are respected that sustainable

support can be expected.

To examine the existing status of international

law in this important area – and to offer

recommendations for potential improvements

and solutions – the Faculty of Law of Lund

University hosted a conference in Vietnam in

October 2010 on the subject of sustainable

technology transfer from developed countries

to developing countries. Focusing on the legal

problems which sustainable technology transfer

may give rise to and how they may be

addressed – and with emphasis on health,

environment, energy, and climate change –

this book summarizes the most important

findings of that conference. Twelve penetrating

essays by fourteen distinguished European,

American, and Asian legal scholars address

the questions of what is required to satisfy

existing international obligations and to what

extent developing countries may use flexibilities

in international conventions to advance their

own development.

The essays are concerned with such issues

and topics as the following:

- the major institutions and players in the

formulation and enforcement of rules

affecting technology transfer;

- the real-world value of legislative

enactments in the area;

- a factual account of actual technology

transfers;

- to what extent competition rules offer

developing countries a way to escape

the more severe consequences of

undertakings they have accepted;

- the impact of compulsory licensing;

- the potential effect of the Anti-Counterfei

ting Trade Agreement of 2010 (ACTA); and

- specific conditions pertaining to conser

vation of biodiversity, climate change

and energy.

Included are thorough analyses of the obligations

and flexibilities expressed in numerous

international conventions – including the TRIPS

Agreement, the Convention on Biological

Diversity, and the UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change – as well as how these

obligations and flexibilities function in practice.

The book concludes with a view from a

developing country perspective and forwardlooking

statements issuing from a heightened

awareness of the role that technology transfer

might play, if properly deployed, in the

development of the disadvantaged countries of

the world.

Although few will argue with the Millennium

Development Declaration’s affirmation that those

who benefit least deserve help from those who

benefit most, disagreement continues over crucial

details such as how technology transfer should

take place and the role of the law in facilitating it.

Avdelning/ar