ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on business and technology primarily as they are involved in processes of globalization. It suggests that contemporary technological developments are double-edged and pose a wide range of moral problems and issues. The chapter also suggests that some of these problems and issues concerning technology transfer can be of two types, domestic and transnational, and each type raises special moral problems and issues. It then shows that patents and other intellectual property instruments constitute one of the mechanisms used to address transnational technology transfer problems and issues, but they have had and promise to have only partial effectiveness in dealing with the said problems and issues. The chapter presents a theoretical framework which develops gives a central role to public participation procedures. The features of the framework are also applicable to a variety of global issues.
