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Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Improperly defined intellectual property rights in a government contract can result in the loss of an entity's critical assets or limit the development of applications critical to public health or safety. Conversely, successful contracts can spur economic development, innovation, and growth, and dramatically improve the quality of delivered goods and services. Contracting for intellectual property rights is difficult. The stakes are high, and negotiating positions are frequently ill-defined. Moreover, the concerns raised must be tempered with the understanding that government contracting can be challenging even without the complexities of intellectual property rights. Further, contractors often have reasons for not wanting to contract with the government, including concerns over profitability, capacity, accounting and administrative requirements, and opportunity costs. Within the commercial sector, companies identified a number of specific intellectual property concerns that affected their willingness to contract with the government. These included perceived poor definitions of what technical data is needed by the government, issues with the government's ability to protect proprietary data adequately, and unwillingness on the part of government officials to exercise the flexibilities available concerning intellectual property rights. Some of these concerns were on perception rather than experience, but, according to company officials, they nevertheless influence decisions not to seek contracts or collaborate with federal government entities. Agency officials shared many of these concerns. Poor upfront planning and limited experience/expertise among the federal contracting workforce were cited as impediments. Although agency officials indicated that intellectual property rights problems may have limited access to particular companies, they did not cite specific instances where the agency was unable to acquire needed technology. Agency officials said that improved training and awareness of the flexibility already in place as well as a better definition of data needs on individual contracts would improve the situation."

Community activity in this field continues to be extensive. Intellectual property is seen as a key resource for the European Union ('EU'), and crucial to its position in the global economy. The EU's manufacturing sector is much decreased in importance in comparison with the services sector. New information and communications technologies have transformed the economic environment. The Commission repeatedly emphasises the importance of intellectual property rights for innovation, employment, competition, and economic growth. Intellectual assets are regarded as central to success in the new 'knowledge economy'. There are two main strands to the Commission's work with intellectual property. One is the harmonisation of the laws of Member States, in order to eliminate barriers to trade. The other is the creation of unitary systems to protect intellectual property rights throughout the Community on the basis of a single application for protection. The Commission also demonstrates particular concern regarding counterfeiting.

Présentation de l'éditeur : "Intellectual Property and Agriculture addresses the important but largely neglected question of intellectual property's relationship to the production, processing, marketing, and circulation of agricultural inputs, products, and practices. Together with an original introduction this comprehensive two-volume set brings together scholars from law, history, anthropology, science and technology studies, economics, and plant science who write on plants and plant genetic resources, late twentieth century international intellectual property agreements, and geographical indications of origin."