John Lauerman of Bloomberg news reports that poor countries are hoping to patent strains of the bird flu, in the hope of using the patents as a bargaining chip in negotiating lower prices for vaccines and treatments.

I anticipate seeing this strategy more and more going forward to combat such practices as the patenting of staple crops. Hopefully it will be more sophisticated and productive than sticking a thumb in the eye of perceived-to-be-menacing multinationals. The best option would be for the patent-holders to be private individuals able to freely trade or license the patents; patents held by governments might well become political footballs.

TRIPS has been portrayed as something that is imposed on or foisted on the developing world by the developed world. But there is a case to be made that adopting modern IP regimes early on will support the growth of wealth and trade even in poor countries. Increased investor interest in R&D in India after their adoption of a more patent-friendly rules for pharma is one point of evidence. Extremely poor countries might not be likely to develop a pharma industry, but a music industry or a fabric printing industry is a possibility. The special problem of AIDs complicates the argument.