Ronald Phillips | Jul 18, 2004 | 3 min read
Courtesy of Dr. Ronald Phillips, U. of MinnesotaThe granting of intellectual property rights is intended to stimulate innovation. The twin goals of encouraging innovation and promoting access to inventions require a balancing act between the scope of protection and limits on proprietary rights. In the United States and elsewhere, the government subsidizes research extensively.For developing countries, access to new products, particularly drugs and seeds, is often a question of life and death. Th