International intellectual property (IP) law has moved from the absence of any obligations on criminal IP enforcement in the ‘pre-TRIPS era’ to a flexible international minimum standard embodied in Art.61 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)....

This paper examines the scope of policy space available to integrate economic, social and environmental concerns under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Protection (TRIPS). It does this by comparing the amount of discretion...

In two recent prominent disputes in the World Trade Organization (WTO), developing country complainants are using the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to induce compliance with favorable WTO rulings. Brazil in the US - Cotton dispute and Antigua in...

Policy Makers, commentators and scholars increasingly realise the impact (international) intellectual property (IP) protection has beyond incentivising investment in innovation and creativity. IP also touches upon areas of general societal concern such as public health, access to information,...

As a framework regulation for innovation markets, the patent system needs to be tailored to the innovation process, which it is supposed to serve, and to the competitive environment, within which it must operate. In order to ensure an efficient functionality of the patent system as an innovation...

Fifteen years after the WTO TRIPS Agreement entered into force, international IP law and policy have moved on. Since the mid-nineties, countries interested in higher IP standards have successfully shifted IP negotiations away from WIPO and WTO towards Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The trend...

Enforcing intellectual property rights abroad is difficult. International treaties have generally not created directly enforceable IP rights. Usually, the protection they confer cannot be directly invoked in national courts. Because of the territorial nature of IP protection, right holders must...

This paper considers legal implications that are likely to emerge from the implementation of a TRIPS Waiver decision. Assuming that a Waiver is adopted in the form presented in the May 2021 proposal by South Africa and India et al, we review the interaction between the Waiver and other...

On 21 December 2007, arbitrators in the US Gambling dispute awarded the Caribbean Island State Antigua and Barbuda the right to retaliate against the United States of America by suspending obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights with an annual...