INTRODUCTION

The chapters in this book so far have dealt largely with the way in which the global intellectual property system is being imposed onto the Pacific islands region and the consequential developmental ramifications. In the last chapter we suggested that a productive way forward would be the adoption of a pluralistic approach that weaves together a variety of state and non-state regulatory mechanisms and is strongly grounded in the social and cultural realities of the region. The next three chapters explore in more detail the various issues involved in adopting such an approach, focusing on a number of case studies and issues of particular salience to the region. This chapter is concerned with the issue of technological innovation and we examine it through the lens of the intellectual property issues arising from the issue of sea transport in the Pacific islands region. This issue was chosen because sea transport is the lifeline of Pacific countries and communities, moving the majority of people, goods and resources. It is crucial to trade, economic development and impacts upon virtually every development initiative. Yet, for many Pacific countries, existing maritime transport services are increasingly unaffordable and unsustainable, making sea transport one of the region's most intractable developmental issues. The irony in this current situation lies in the region's history as the home of one of the world's most adept seafaring peoples, who used their superior boat building, sailing and navigational skills and knowledge to colonise one-third of the globe under sail and without metal.

This case study illustrates the argument made in Chapter 1 that the development paradigm used to view a particular developmental issue fundamentally affects the types of intellectual property issues that arise in relation to it. Viewed from the perspective of the dominant development paradigm, the solutions to the problems raised by inadequate sea transport largely lie in importing foreign technology, such as fossil fuel powered vessels. This ‘import foreign technology as a solution’ approach to development also prevails in many other areas, such as health, and more recently climate change. As we indicated in Chapter 5, the intellectual property issues this approach gives rise to, on a theoretical level at least, are unidirectional: they centre on the demand that receiving countries have intellectual property regimes in place as prerequisites for the transfer of the technology.