Knowledge Management and Access to Essential Technologies

This chapter explores the existing and potential relationship between knowledge management and intellectual property, and the impact that taking a knowledge management based approach to access to technologies would have on trade and development. The chapter explores different laws relevant to information and knowledge and concludes that they can have a limited impact on working with intellectual property to increase access to important works. From this base, this chapter then considers the contribution to be made by using competition and human rights to engage in a different manner with intellectual property. This is done by using three case studies using different factual and technology scenarios and with bases in the UK, South Africa, and Vanuatu. The chapter concludes that the fields can combine to identify and increase access to essential technologies, but that there can be no global solution using this approach.