Strong and vigilant anti-trust institutions are a must to curb monopoly of firms backed by patents or intellectual property rights, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor, Vepa Kamesam, said.
"Knowledge revolution has enabled greater competition by enabling smaller firm sizes with low capital and labour requirements to operate with a telling effect. But there are ever greater dangers that firms with knowledge advantage could indulge in monopoly practices, backed by patents or other intellectual property rights (IPRs) or otherwise through perceived restrictive practices such as packaging of web browsers with operating system," he added.
Kamesam was speaking at the IX Economic Convention 2001 organised at the HR College of Commerce & Economics today in the city.
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The deputy governor said: "A balance is needed between incentive and demand knowledge, and should be reflected in firms' desire to invent and innovate, or their spending on R&D and supply of new knowledge that need inputs of past knowledge. IPRs provide the former to the detriment of the latter." Kamesam argued that the global institutions need to consider a more effective IPR regime.
He also felt that while multilateral forums have recognised the need for using knowledge to address poverty, the efforts to this effect are missing. He said: "The words are not translated into policies and with equal intensity, and policies are not translated into actions with proportionate force. It is imperative that we, in developing countries, make our voices hard."
According to Kamesam, the knowledge should serve to empower the people and provide their entitlements. He said the measures and actions enable access to new technologies that are essential to reducing world poverty and facilitating sustainable development.