Analysis of IP Sanctions in a Legal Historical Context

To what extent does imitation as a form of industrial innovation contribute to development? This project addresses the question from an historical perspective. Much literature has been dedicated to the history of IPRs. It is descriptive or philosophical and does not offer sufficient data based on a legal-historical perspective. The evolution of the political economy of IP law-making has not been sufficiently analysed from an historical point of view.

The causal linkages to international trade policy and external economic relations in the evolution of IPR protection have not been fully documented. In addition, no assessment of the allocation of public money dedicated to the protection and enforcement of IPRs appears to have been made in a systematic manner, nor has such an assessment been compared to the general growth in public budgets or the social and economic development of countries. The project seeks to collect and analyse relevant data and take into account the legal history of enforcement of IPRs in industrialised countries.