The Making Of The Trips Agreement

A comprehensive account of the establishment of the World Trade Organization, focusing on those who shaped its creation as well as those who have influenced its evolution. The book examines trade negotiations, the WTO's dispute settlement role, the presence of coalitions and groupings within the WTO, the process of joining the organization and many other topics, including what lies ahead for the organization.

Contributors share their views on how intellectual property fitted into the overall Uruguay Round, the political and economic considerations driving TRIPS negotiations, the role of non-state actors, the sources of the substantive and procedural standards that were built into the TRIPS Agreement, and future issues in the area of intellectual property. They take a close look at such issues as copyright for software, patents on medicines and the appropriate scope of protection of geographical indications. In probing how negotiations led to an enduring agreement that has served as a framework for policy-making in many countries, the contributions offer lessons for current and future negotiators. --Publisher description.

NAture of obligations, principles and objectives; Substantive obligations; Intellectual property rights and competition; Enforcemente, maintenance and acquisition of rights; Interpretation and dispute settlement and prevention; Transitional and institutional arragements.

This work addresses the environmental and developmental impacts of patent protection by focusing on the global agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). While the TRIPS agreement serves as an important step in harmonizing international intellectual property systems, the author contends that it currently fails to properly balance public and private interests, especially in the gap between rich and poor.

This work provides practitioners with in-depth, article-by-article analysis of the TRIPS Agreement. For each article it describes the evolution of the provision and its negotiating history, difficulties in its interpretation and application, and the key points practitioners must consider in their work. In addition, it examines the history and context of the Agreement and assesses its likely impact on the future development of the international intellectual property framework.

When the TRIPS Agreement was concluded in 1994, many saw it as embodying a new gold standard of intellectual property protection that not only reformed the Paris and Berne Conventions but also made further IP agreements unnecessary. Although this optimistic vision has eroded – obligations to protect IP rights can now be found in trade agreements and can be enforced before domestic courts and investor–state tribunals – the Agreement continues to pervade trends and developments in international law, not only in IP but in trade law also. This comprehensive commentary on the past, present, and future of the Agreement focuses on its influence on key topics in IP as well as on enforcement and dispute resolution. The editors have assembled a group of renowned IP law practitioners and academics who, taking each area of IP law, in turn, show the extent to which TRIPS provisions have survived, expanded, or been supplanted by other bodies. Their analysis covers the different IP rights addressed in the TRIPS Agreement (copyrights; trade marks; geographical indications; patents; data protection and enforcement) both in historical perspective and in their development in the last 25 years. An additional three chapters cover: most-favoured-nation obligations in regard of subsequent free trade agreements; how societal interests alter the interpretation of TRIPS obligations; the judicial role in the WTO panels and Appellate Body; minimum standards and reduction of flexibilities in IP policy; relationship of WTO/TRIPS with other international agreements. As intellectual property becomes more pervasive in society than ever before – and as both technology related to the use of IP and the way protected works are consumed have changed beyond recognition over the past 25 years – jurists, academics, and practitioners in IP and trade law will welcome this unique opportunity to test the true scope of national sovereignty in the interpretation of intellectual property rights.

The TRIPS Agreement was implemented in the WTO to gain access to a functioning dispute settlement mechanism that could authorize trade sanctions. Yet TRIPS and the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding are based on systems that developed independently in WIPO and GATT. In this book, Matthew Kennedy exposes the challenges created by the integration and independence of TRIPS within the WTO by examining how this trade organization comes to grips with intellectual property disputes. He contrasts the way intellectual property disputes between governments have been handled before and after the establishment of the WTO. Based on practical experience, this book provides a comprehensive review of the issues that arise under the DSU, TRIPS, GATT 1994 and other WTO agreements in intellectual property matters. These range from procedural pitfalls to substantive treaty interpretation and conflicts as well as remedies, including cross-retaliation.

The TRIPS Agreement is the most comprehensive and influential international treaty on intellectual property rights. It brings intellectual property rules into the framework of the World Trade Organization, obliging all WTO Member States to meet minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. This has required massive changes in some national laws, particularly in developing countries. This volume provides a detailed legal analysis of the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as elements to consider their economic implications in different legal and socio-economic contexts. This book provides an in depth analysis of the principles and of the substantive and enforcement provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the most influential international treaty on intellectual property currently in force. It discusses the legal context in which the Agreement was negotiated, the objectives of their proponents and the nature of the obligations it created for the members of the World Trade Organization. In particular, it examines the minimum standards that must be implemented with regard to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, copyright and related rights, integrated circuits, trade-secrets and test data for pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Commentary on the TRIPS Agreement elaborates on the interpretation of provisions contained in said Agreement, in the light of the customary principles for the interpretation of international law. The analysis -which is supported by a review of the relevant GATT and WTO jurisprudence- identifies the policy space left to such members to implement their obligations in accordance with their own legal systems and public policy objectives, including in respect of complex issues such as patentability criteria, compulsory licenses, exceptions and limitations to copyright, border measures, injunctive relief and the protection of test data under the discipline of unfair competition.