Jeroen van Wijk

Dealing with Piracy:: Intellectual Asset Management in Music and Software

The music and software industry are employing copy-protection devices in CDs and digital downloads to strengthen their weak appropriability regimes that leave ample opportunities for modern-day piracy. The effectiveness of the strategy is explained on the grounds that (a) the knowledge involved in copy protection is generally too sophisticated for consumers to circumvent, and (b) consumers are not allowed to use circumvention techniques created by knowledgeable third parties. Copy protection is controversial, because it deprives consumers of making home copies of music and software, and hence overrules copyright law that exempts the copying for private use. It is argued that the technical enforcement of copyright protection in the home domain of millions of individuals necessitates a wide consensus between business and society about the legitimacy of private and fair use.

Food insecurity: Prevalence, causes, and the potential of transgenic `Golden Rice'

This paper reviews a number of recent social science publications on the nature and causes of food insecurity in low and middle-income countries. The focus is on one specific element of food insecurity, vitamin A deficiency, which is widespread in developing countries and causes blindness and early death among millions of children. A new approach in the fight against vitamin A deficiency is `Golden Rice. The paper explores the pros and cons of this recently developed transgenic rice variety, and tries to answer the question whether in this particular case, genetic modification technology provides a solution to food insecurity. It is concluded that Golden Rice is one of the options available, but not necessarily the most effective one.This paper reviews a number of recent social science publications on the nature and causes of food insecurity in low and middle-income countries. The focus is on one specific element of food insecurity, vitamin A deficiency, which is widespread in developing countries and causes blindness and early death among millions of children. A new approach in the fight against vitamin A deficiency is `Golden Rice. The paper explores the pros and cons of this recently developed transgenic rice variety, and tries to answer the question whether in this particular case, genetic modification technology provides a solution to food insecurity. It is concluded that Golden Rice is one of the options available, but not necessarily the most effective one.

Global convergence meets local divergence: intellectual property in Indian seed markets

International organisations advocate global convergence in intellectual property as a prerequisite for successful innovation strategies. The difficulties of achieving such harmonisation are, however, evident from the attempts of several nations to develop divergent intellectual property systems. This paper explores the causes of institutional divergence and uses intellectual property for seed markets in India as a case study. The Indian seed market case demonstrates that convergence and divergence may go hand in hand. The domestication of global protection models for seed and biotechnology may require divergence in order to be accepted by domestic stakeholders.

Website Analysis: Brand Africa

Tourism represents a promising service sector that could significantly support the development of African economies. African governments targeting foreign tourists are firmly supported by international organizations. The United Nations, for example, has identified the tourist sector as a means in the “war on poverty” and will contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 (UNWTO 2005). A major barrier, however, is Africa’s troublesome image. Africa has in fact two dominant images in the outside world. In the western mass media, the continent is overwhelmingly associated with corruption, violent conflicts, hunger and disease. These media glimpses led The Economist (13–19 May 2000) to conclude that Africa is a “hopeless continent”.