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May 14, 2009

SSRL co-director publishes in international journal

John W. Sutherlin, an assistant political science professor and co-director of the ULM Social Science Research Laboratory, wrote an article for the spring edition of the Perspectives on Global Development and Technology Journal titled "Intellectual Property Rights: The West, India and China."

The article was the result of months of specific research through the SSRL based on a career analyzing intellectual property. This article was first presented at a regional conference more than a year ago, and then presented last June at the Global Studies Association Conference in New York.

Sutherlin commented, "As a twice-patented inventor, author and producer of films, I had been aware of my own difficulties in protecting my IP, especially in foreign countries that were not fully part of the World Intellectual Property Organization regime. Frequently, this has caused distribution disruptions and delayed implementation of full royalty rights. This project helped me focus on salient issues to India and China as their respective economies went through massive research and development efforts to confront patent and copyright measures largely established by the West."

In this article, Sutherlin covers a variety of IP-related industries: food to fashion to pharmaceuticals. According to Sutherlin, India and China, as are many developing nations, are demonstrating that the present system of IP protection has become unworkable and ineffective under the present global governance regime.

The PGDT is a peer-reviewed journal for the discussion of current social science research on diverse development issues, particularly those affecting global society, governance and technologies. The journal is edited at the University of Toledo and published in the Netherlands.

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