| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is essentially a study of how intellectual property, transfer of
technology and competition rules can be interfaced properly in Iran to facilitate the
flow of technology into the country. The law governing the transfer and development
of technology is a relatively new and non-traditional discipline. The thesis is intended
to make a significant contribution to the limited number of publications available on
the subject especially in examining within one volume the principles of three branches
of law of great significance to economic development.
The focus of this thesis is Iran. Iran is a country with a rich culture and a
history that goes back to thousands of years. She has abundant natural resources
including oil and a large domestic market and enjoys a strategic position in
international trade and politics. Seven decades have passed since Iran attempted to
acquire foreign technology to industrialise important sectors of her economy but the
country continues to be dependent heavily on foreign technology and her economy
remains an oil driven one. Part of the problem is the absence of a strong legal and
institutional framework within which secure investments both local and foreign can
take place on an enduring basis.
The thesis shows that the international community has failed to provide an
international legal framework responsive to the special needs of developing countries
which are, therefore, constrained to rely on their own domestic institutions to tap into
the technology available across the world. Given that international Conventions - such
as the Paris Convention and the GATUTRIPS Agreement provided developing
countries with space within which they can fashion their national laws and institutions
regarding the transfer and promotion of technology, how should Iran reconstruct its
local laws to secure indigenous development of its industrial and technological
infrastructure? The thesis proposes a package of legal reforms and institutional
changes which are intended to encourage the flow of technology into the country by
guaranteeing the protection of acquired rights and assuring mutual benefits to both
technology suppliers and recipients.
The thesis is divided into four sections: Section I provides a historical
background to Iran's attempts to industrialise, Section 11 is an analysis of the
interfacing between intellectual property laws, competition laws, transfer of technology
laws and international law to uncover the legal problems relating to the transfer of
technology to the developing countries, Section III examines the existing national legal
framework within which the flow of technology takes place in Iran and Section IV
devises an optimum legal and institutional regime to maximise the transfer of foreign
technology and promotion and development of domestic innovative activities with
particular reference to Iran.
In this thesis, the proposed Development of Technology Law of Iran lays down
rules for patent grants, transfer of technology agreements and protection of
competition and, for the first time, will bring the three areas of law under the
supervision of a single independent agency of the government whose central purpose
will be to develop a technological base in the country and advance industrial progress | en_US |
