are generally subject to a number of limitations and exceptions, aimed at fine-tuning the balance that has to be found between the legitimate interests of right holders and of users.”<sup>29</sup> And since such areas as and pharmaceutical patents and even agricultural inventions fall under intellectual property, the concern is that this measure can take a toll on development. Even though “protecting a Nigerian movie from piracy, for example, is not the same thing as protecting patents for AIDS drugs,”<sup>30</sup> there are many in policy circles who turn a deaf ear once they hear the term intellectual property. This lack of differentiation (in intellectual measures) adds to the barrier of promoting a law that is often assumed a Western import. And it must be remembered that in addition to the cost of implementation, intellectual property adaptation is at different stages of maturity (or application) in many countries<sup>31</sup> — this is so even if the TRIPS Agreement is supposed to help harmonize these differences. Infringement is also not abetting anytime soon.

The mystery of intellectual rights coupled with ever proliferating industrial counterfeits has left many artisans and other ‘creative natives’ in unspeakable situations. Ghana is a perfect example. A Ghanaian law aimed to register textile designs was passed in the 1960s, but consider this: some celebrated designs like the _Kente_ were purposely omitted “because of their communal nature.”<sup>32</sup> The conundrum this has caused for Ghanaian artist Gilbert “Bobbo” Ahiable is a case in point. “Although Bobbo’s traditional weaving has been featured at the Smithsonian and his creations are sold through various channels, there is no legal protection for the traditional design cloths he creates. Theoretically, if he registered a copyright for each design, only he would be able to reproduce them. This approach is not realistic, as the designs are used to mark events in tribal life. Bobbo would have a cultural monopoly, something he feels unable to do.” When J.C. Penny reproduced his designs on bed sheets and sold them to the American public there was no legal recourse for Bobbo, as Betsy J. Fowler observes. “This is offensive to the artisan’s community because each design is specific to events in tribal life.”<sup>33</sup> In WTO, India and Emerging Areas of Trade: Challenges and Strategies, P. Vaijayanthi and Reena Roy paint a bleak picture — a picture that effectively delinks human development and creative work:

[W]hile some of the Impoverished weavers of Andhra Pradesh, India, are committing suicide out of the despair over their inability to take care of their families, the size of the markets enjoyed by the copies of their products that are churned out in China and Southeast Asia is unknown, but is substantial. ...

> 29 World Trade Organization (WTO) “What Are Intellectual Property Rights?,” accessed April 8, 2015, <u>https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel1_e.htm.</u>

> 30 Patrick Kabanda. 2014. _The Creative Wealth of Nations_ .

> 31 Also see Ibid and James D. Wolfensohn, Interview by Author, Personal Interview | Tape Recording, New York, NY, January 14, 2013, 98-99.

> 32 Betsy J. Fowler, “Preventing Counterfeit Craft Designs” in _Poor People’s Knowledge: Promoting Intellectual Property in Developing Countries,_ ed _._ J. Michael Finger and Philip Schuler (Washington, DC: The World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2004), 126.

> 33 Ibid., 126-127. This issue is also discussed here Patrick Kabanda, “The Arts, Africa and Economic Development.”

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