By Abdulazeez Abiodun
1.0 Abstract
Intellectual Property is protected under the law, as it relates to its types which are patents, copyright and trademarks, and thus enables people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest[1], the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish. The 21st century economy is without doubt knowledge based as it can be seen around. This can be said that, indeed, largely, the economy is driven by a rich mental resource, as against the 20th century economy, which can be said was mainly driven by assets, like land, mineral resources[2] and many other things. In order word, this era is described as technology age. Scholars from different jurisdictions have come to conclusion that the product of intellectual property is very vital and which can boost the growth of economy in a country greatly, but most people do not see it from this angle but rather abuse the opportunities especially in Nigeria. This article therefore, critically examine the impart of intellectual property and the economic development in the 21st century in Nigeria.
Key words; Intellectual property, economy, technology.
1.1 Introduction
Generally, the concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human intellect should be afforded the same protective rights that apply to physical property, which are called tangible assets. Recently, general understanding of the relationship that exist between intellectual property rights and economy development has significantly change the whole narrations in which people began to see connections that exist in this area. The 21st century is largely a knowledge driven era where the manipulation and effective application of information sets nations apart. Developed nations are in control of cutting-edge technologies in area such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, telecommunications, information technology including the internet and space technology[3]. Developing countries like Nigeria are catching up with different countries who are into the system already having different levels of success.
1.2 The Purpose of the research topic
It is imperative that a developing country such as Nigeria defines and implements its intellectual property rights policies in such ways that will bring maximum benefit to its economy. Therefore, this article aims to investigate on the following problems;
1.3 THE INFLUENCE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ON A NATION’S ECONOMY GENERALLY
There are series of arguments that are in favor of the notion that strong intellectual property rights protection will bring about tangible economic growth in developing countries. Saggi in his book argue that developing countries and developed countries have varying technological needs. And that for the developed countries to keep investing and producing new technologies required by the developing countries, it is obvious that the developing countries must have reasonable protection of intellectual property rights. In recent times technology and knowledge have played an important role in economic growth of major world economies like the United Kingdom, United State of America and emerging economies like Brazil, Russia, India and China. Intellectual property through globalization and technological innovation has come to reveal an enticing allure in corporate strategy affecting company ratings. Therefore, it is safe to say a country with higher rate of technological growth would experience a higher standard of living than those of countries without much growth. As well-known and beyond any doubt, IP protection is an important determinant of economic growth. It helps entrepreneurs to recover costs of their innovative expenses as the case maybe. Undoubtedly, IP systems must be developed so as to bring in socio-economic well-being. However, the incentives for the same need to be analysed critically, as the duplicity of stands of various parties to the WTO and TRIPS are clearly evident[4]. It has been stipulated that Intellectual property significantly influences the appreciation in value and the accumulation in quantity of human capital and technological change. For example, the growth in patent filing is associated with the growth of knowledge and patent-related statistics can act as an indicator of the strength or weakness of a country’s economy. The influence of intellectual Property can also be said to have been reflected in the increasing contribution in the high technology and knowledge-intensive industries. For instance, there is now the inclination of firms to patent their inventions and this has increased worldwide which includes some developing countries.
1.4 The Benefit of Intellectual property laws to the Economy
Different business sectors and industries depend on intellectual property law which represent an important part of every modern’s economy, particularly as it relates to economies advance from dependence agriculture, mineral resources and from low value-added manufacturing to higher value-products and services. Indeed, intellectual property is a driving tool for both developed and developing countries for growth of GDP and the economy development[5]. The following are the benefits which can be derived from intellectual property to the development of economy in a country in this century.
iii. Technological advancement of industries
1.5 Conclusion
In conclusion, the absence of effective intellectual property laws deprives a country of the huge revenue that could boost the development of the country’s economy. This fact was supported by the statistics that have shown that intellectual properties crimes deprive many countries from achieving success in the economy development. The fact that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria disclosed that Nigeria loses about 26.3 billion dollars annually to various forms of criminality basically on privacy and sea robbery. This can be said that it is lacks of effective intellectual property laws in Nigeria.
1.6 Recommendation
It is of the essence that we understand that intellectual property is one of the aspects which is ably known to develop a country’s economy coupled with Artificial Intelligence. For Nigeria, to therefore to effectively take advantage of the potential benefits of intellectual property rights protection it must first put in place the right policy framework that will help boost its economic and technological standing. As its economy rises and reaches a desired level it can then begin to gradually tighten its Intellectual property rights regime with this, the country will experience positive changes. However, this can be achieved through; update the laws, digitalization and mobilization of institutions, improved sensitization, ratification of relevant treaties and improvement on government policies especially in communication of invention where financial difficulty is encountered.
[1] Ale P., ‘Intellectual Property and development of Nigerian Economy’ Being a lecture delivered on May 17th 2022, 9;30am @ College of law Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti.
[2] Comfort Y., ‘Intellectual Property and Nigerian Economy’ Nigerian Tribune (Abuja July 30 2018).
[3] Onyeka U.O., ‘Intellectual Property rights protection and economic development: the case of Nigeria’ (2014) available at https://eujournal.org.com accessed on 21 September 2022.
[4] Kaushik L., ‘Role of intellectual property in economic growth’ (2005) (10) journal of intellectual property Rights 465-473.
[5] Ogooluwa Osilesi, ‘Impact of IP law in the economic development of Nigeria’ available at https://www.lawglobalhub.com/impact-of-ip-law-in-the-economic-development-of-nigeria/ accessed on 22 September 2022.
