From HIV to COVID-19 : Impact of Trips on Developing Countries

The concept of trade is constantly evolving. Advancements in technology, innovation and creativity has seen trade grow beyond the regular provision of goods and services. Each country has its domestic laws to protect these intangible Intellectual Property (IP) rights of its citizens, but with globalization, international barriers continue to get smaller, and therefore the need exists to ensure the protection of these IP rights on a global scale.The World Trade Organization (WTO) recognizes this, and as part of their mission to foster global trade, negotiated the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) during the Uruguay round of 1986-1994. This Agreement is arguably one of the biggest multilateral agreements on Intellectual Property (IP), and it establishes a minimum standard of IP rights to be adopted by all WTO member countries. Certain developed countries have also gone on to set higher IP standards, generally regarded to as TRIPS plus.However, many will argue that TRIPS and TRIPS plus favors developed countries and puts developing or underdeveloped countries at a disadvantage, especially with regards to access to innovations in the pharmaceutical industry. In this paper, I will analyze the effect of TRIPS and its exceptions on underdeveloped and developing countries, using the HIV/AIDS and the COVID 19 pandemics as a case study. I argue that the exceptions in place meant to protect the countries in reality have little to no effect and suggest an adoption of amended provisions specifically tailored to ensuring equitable distribution of medicine to all countries regardless of their economic power