Ecuador Passes Organic Code On Social Economy Of Knowledge, Creativity And Innovation

The Organic Code on Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation was published on December 9, 2016. Its fundamental pillars are:

Declaration of knowledge as an asset in the public interest.

Existence of scant national patents, and little government budget for developing them, which must be changed.

Need to have new rules in order to democratize usage and enjoyment of knowledge.

Need to promote ancestral as well as Western knowledge.

The Code repeals the former intellectual property law, which is considered to "hyper-privatize" knowledge.

The Code proclaims that intellectual property rights shall be subject to the enjoyment and effective exercise of the rights to health, education, information, access to culture, development of economic activities, freedom of labor, and access to quality goods and services.