Intellectual property protection has a positive effect on all four economic indicators: gross domestic product (GDP), trade, foreign direct investments (FDI) and the level of innovation. The confidence it gives investors leads to inflows of foreign capital that promote technology competition, which in turn fosters innovation. As a result, higher quality goods and service are produced within the country more efficiently. This would increases the competitive advantage of the county in terms of exports and positively impact its GDP growth.

This paper presents the state of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection in ASEAN using the Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) Index and ascertains why some countries have been more successful in safeguarding IPR compared with others. The GIPC Index evaluates the level of IP protection in a country based on 30 indicators. In ASEAN, countries have significantly varied performances with countries like Singapore and Malaysia performing well, while Thailand and Vietnam perform poorly.