The Role of Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Stimulating Creativity and Innovation: The Case of Ghana

Abstract

Exploring Intellectual Property (IP) system to facilitate research activities and transfer of advanced technology to harness creativity and innovation has become an issue of global debate. Using Ghana as a case study for the period 2003-2013, the study examined the role, prospects and challenges for exploring IP systems to stimulate Ghana’s domestic creativity and innovation. The study employed qualitative research approach, utilizing a purposive sampling method to obtain primary data from officials of Registrar Generals Department (RGD), Copyright Office, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a Lecturer with the University of Ghana Law Faculty, among others. The study revealed that Ghana’s domestic creativity and innovation have been stifled due to weak IP system and enforcement mechanism, resulting in poor research culture and reliant on low level technology. It further emerged that challenges inherent in the country’s IP system, such as limited human and institutional capacities have hindered the country’s domestic creativity and innovation. Nonetheless, there are still prospects for the nation to explore its existing legal and structural IP frameworks to stimulate its creativity and innovation. The study finally recommended that policy interventions would be required to, among others, generate IP awareness among the general population, review the existing IP legislations to correspond to modern trends and strengthen institutional and human capacities to absorb technological knowledge in order to enhance the country’s creativity and innovation.