Intellectual Property and Human Security

This chapter discusses the interrelatedness between intellectual property and human security. There are two sides of this interrelationship. In the first place, IP issues are closely related to the hard security of nations. In the second place, the application of the regime of international intellectual property laws can help promote economic and social development and, at the same time, can result in major hardships when it comes to protection of the right to life and realization of the rights to health, food, and education. In the pages that follow, different aspects of these issues are explored.