Introduction

This chapter outlines the purpose of this book, namely, to examine local and global lawmaking processes, discourses and actors related to the present state of Sri Lanka’s IP laws. To examine how the concepts of local and global lawmaking processes, discourses and actors are being understood, this chapter has incorporated theories such as networked nodal governance theory and systems theory as well as relevant discourses. By using three case studies, on patent administration, PVR and STI in Sri Lanka, this chapter identifies two competing discourses namely, high-technology versus low-technology IP protection that are applied in these case studies in order to find answers through interacting, indeed competing, discourses about what the Sri Lankan law should be.