Why IPRs are a global political issue

There has been a flurry of recent work addressing intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the contemporary economy, but a relative lack of work by legal scholars sensitive to the now globalised politics of IPRs. Intellectual property replaces knowledge's largely non-rival character with a regime of rival property. IPRs also reflect the rights of individuals to own the products of their own efforts, in that these efforts reflect the expression of an individual's self-identity. The history of the international recognition of IPRs is considerably shorter than any of its national histories. The original intent of including IPRs in the international trade negotiations leading to the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was merely to enhance international anti-counterfeiting measures. The character of national laws supported the appropriation of foreign knowledge and information when the United States, and before that Britain, were "developing countries".