TECHNOLOGY: Intellectual Property to Help Bridge Digital Gap – WIPO

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 17 2002 (IPS) - The international intellectual property system could be utilised to reduce the digital divide that continues to exist between industrialised and developing countries, says the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

The Geneva-based intergovernmental organisation, which oversees treaties to protect legal rights related to human inventions, released a report this week on the intellectual property system’s potential related to digital technology.

A substantial portion of the report covers the role WIPO and the intellectual property rights protection system can play in helping developing countries "to build the bridges that enable them to engage in electronic-commerce."

The nations of the South would be encouraged to promote the development of their intellectual property "while protecting and preserving their cultural heritage," says the WIPO study presented at its Geneva headquarters Monday.

In its description of the digital economy panorama, the agency states that only 10 percent of the world population, or some 605 million people, has Internet access as of this year.

This figure reflects a world in which a third of all people have never even made a telephone call, according to WIPO.

However, the number if Internet users is growing exponentially and surpasses all predictions. In 1999 it was estimated that the total would be 250 million by 2002. It is now forecast that there will be 709 million Internet users in 2004 and one billion in 2005.

But the Internet, in its constant expansion, joins another constant, which is the profound difference between rich and poor countries in the development of digital telecommunications.

WIPO cites the conclusions of a study by the International Network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication (Orbicom) and of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA): "the magnitude of the gap between developed and developing countries is enormous."

The Orbicom-CIDA report states that the digital divide is narrowing, though slowly, there are "marked differences in speed among countries depending to a large extent on the diffusion of new technologies."

"Fifty-five countries in the world account for more than 99 percent of all spending on information technology," says the study. And more that two-thirds of Internet users are in the United States and Europe.

In this context, WIPO considers the intellectual property system a tool that can serve to reduce the digital divide.

According to the agency, national policies and legal structures, which should include updated legislation on intellectual property, could foment both foreign and local investment.

This would stimulate the creation of local content that would allow the population to benefit economically and socially from its creative efforts, argues WIPO.

In that respect, the Internet creates "an insatiable demand for content, and an opportunity for its production", which developing countries have not taken full advantage of.

The disparities in Internet access are evident in the geographic distribution. In the Americas, 37 percent of the population has access to the worldwide web, in Asia 31 percent, in Europe 29 percent and in Africa just one percent.

Most of the indicators used in the WIPO study encompass Latin America and the Caribbean with North America, despite the very different development levels of these regions.

Internet access reflects economic development levels, but other factors play a part, such as the number of computers connected to the global network, the costs of connections, telecomms infrastructure, education level, and the presence of policies regulating telecomms and e-commerce.

Access costs vary greatly between countries and regions, though in general terms the developing world is a great disadvantage. The monthly price for Internet access in Nepal is 278 percent of the average monthly salary, in Sri Lanka it is 60 percent, while in the United States it is just 1.2 percent of the average monthly wages.

In spite of this outlook, the trend for greatest growth in Internet users is in Asia, where the number of connections increased 5.6 percent in the final quarter of 2001 alone.

By the end of this month the number of users in the Asia- Pacific region is expected to reach 180 million, surpassing both Europe and North America, and rise to 236 million by 2004.

The most notable advances are in China, where 36-percent growth is expected by 2004 for a total of 51 million Internet users. In India for the same period a 47-percent increase is predicted, meaning 10.1 million people with network connections.

For Latin America, the "on-line population" for 2004 is projected to be 60.6 million, nearly double the total today.

Africa continues to be a region with scarce Internet penetration, but there are signs of growth, with 20 percent more subscriptions to on-line providers in the last 18 months.

Excluding the more developed areas of South Africa and northern Africa, just one out of 250 people have access to the Internet, compared to half the populations of North America and Europe.

The WIPO study concludes that the digital divide is not limited to the disparities between poor and wealthy countries. It is evident within each country as well, and depends on the level of digital development, participation in e-commerce and the health of the digital economy.

TECHNOLOGY: Intellectual Property to Help Bridge Digital Gap – WIPO

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 17 2002 (IPS) - The international intellectual property system could be utilised to reduce the digital divide that continues to exist between industrialised and developing countries, says the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
(more…)