This paper reviews almost twenty years of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) work on access to medicines. The UNHRC has repeatedly framed access to medicines as part of the right to health and has urged States to rely on flexibilities in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of...

This paper calls for a comprehensive, development-focused review of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) under Article 71.1, a process that has been mandated but never carried out. It critiques the narrow, compliance-driven approach favored by...

This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) on industrial designs, and the manner in which the narrow aspects dealt with by the Agreement have been addressed by European Union (EU) legislation. The paper...

This publication contains the text of the WTO's founding agreement, the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, and its Annexes, including all amendments and additions since its entry into force up to and including September 2025. These include an amendment to the...

The amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) agreed upon in May 2024 are important for strengthening global health emergency preparedness and response. The negotiations resulted in the IHR amendment now recognizing the importance of equity, including equitable access to...

The purpose of this report is to analyze the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the vaccine industry from an international perspective. The objective is to learn from the experience and contribute to the design of better tools for future vaccine development and manufacturing, as we...

This paper analyzes the debate over the international dissemination of data exclusivity as a form of protection for clinical trial data. This is a critical demand for pharmaceutical companies seeking larger market shares and longer periods of monopoly in order to recover investments in research...

With the adoption of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), Argentina had to adapt to the new international rules on patent law. One of the main points of the Agreement is the possibility of establishing different forms of compulsory licenses and...

The COVID-19 crisis intensified decade-long debates on the interaction between intellectual property rights (IPRs), competition law and access to affordable life-saving treatments and vaccines. Compulsory licensing of patented medicines is a tried-and-tested method to expand access, particularly...

Cambodia is expected to graduate from Least Developed Country status soon, at which time it will be required to make patents available for pharmaceutical products and processes to meet its obligations under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Given its...

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) provided for a number of transition periods allowing countries to engage in a phased implementation of their TRIPS obligations. More specifically, transition periods targeted the patenting of pharmaceutical...

The Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows WTO Members to agree to temporarily waive obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). However, the TRIPS Decision adopted by the 12th WTO Ministerial...

This paper critically analyzes the operations and effectiveness of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology (WGTTT). Despite the establishment of the WGTTT in 2001 with a mandate to enhance technology flows to developing countries, the Group has...

The proponents of intellectual property (IP) have increasingly utilized injunctions with indiscriminate propensity as a strategic tool for IP enforcement, resulting in adverse socio-economic implications, including the enjoyment of human rights. This trend has eclipsed the flexibilities provided...

Technology transfer is deeply embedded in the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). Several provisions address technology transfer, which constitute an essential part of the efforts made by the TRIPS negotiators to strike a balance between the...

This paper provides a first comprehensive quantitative analysis of optimal patent policy in the global economy. We introduce a new framework, which combines trade and growth theory into a tractable tool for quantitative research. Our application delivers three main results. First, the potential...

The recent Covid-19 global health crisis not only brings into sharp relief the current problems afflicting the international intellectual property regime (IIPR) but also calls into question its legitimacy as an interna- tional authority. Against this backdrop, the article aims to launch an...

This research paper explores the significance of geographical indications (GIs) as a mechanism for protecting regional products and promoting cultural heritage in India. It examines the legal framework for GIs, analyses their impact on rural and traditional industries, and evaluates the...

About three decades ago, the TRIPS Agreement arrived with the establishment of the World Trade Organization. This agreement transformed the international intellectual property regime by marrying intellectual property with trade. Despite having its standards drawn mostly from the Global North,...

This article presents a microeconomic model to understand the flow of empty trucks in logistics operations and its impact on cargo flows, transport prices and the number of carriers. Although some empty trips are caused by load imbalances, this study considers the occurrence of empty trucks in...

The TRIPS Agreement obligated India to amend its patent laws to meet the minimum standard of patent protection and patentability. In 2005, India amended its Patent Act to comply with TRIPS, which resulted in the removal of several provisions that facilitated the production and importation of...

On the 20th anniversary of the Doha Declaration on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and Public Health adopted by the World Trade Organization, we realize that its impact is beyond issues of public health stricto sensu. The Doha Declaration...

Apart from the basic statutory definition in section 65 of the Intellectual Property Act of Sri Lanka, there do not appear to be any detailed statutory guidelines or judicial decisions to provide any framework for the assessment of inventive step in Sri Lanka. The current statutory definition is...

Innumerable inventions implicate public health—including drugs, vaccines, dietary supplements, and sewage treatment plants. Over the past century, the Patent Office and the courts have modulated the ability to obtain or enforce patents for these inventions—whether in response to a public...

This paper provides an analysis of patents covering selected antibodies and vaccines used in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19. The aim of the report is to support national patent offices and interested parties in developing countries with information that can serve as guidance for the...

Dispute is an integral part of human existence. There is bound to be a disagreement in every human relationship. Whenever there is human interaction, dispute is inevitable. The different means of dispute resolution include litigation, arbitration, mediation, and negotiation. While litigation...

The WTO is the most important international organization that governs world trade. Decisions are made by the member countries. The WTO has 164 members and 24 observer governments (most of which have applied for membership), and members represent over 98% of world trade. The highest-level...

Timely and equitable access to vaccines and other health technologies is vital in effectively responding to pandemics and treating other communicable diseases. This paper shows how countries might overcome real or purported intellectual property (IP) barriers to regional COVID-19 vaccine...

Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is essential to ameliorating the coronavirus pandemic's grave social and economic impact. Despite the rapid development and global increase in the production of vaccines, gross inequities are likely to continue. An effective pandemic response requires...

While increasing support from WTO members for a proposed waiver from certain obligations under the TRIPS Agreement with regard to health products required for responding to COVID-19 has made a decision on the TRIPS waiver imminent, the waiver will have to be implemented domestically by WTO...

Regulatory Ritualism means acceptance of regulatory goals while losing focus in achieving them. In other words, it means ignoring of goals or objectives of a process or mechanism and focusing too much on regulations, rules, and formalities. Advanced countries and developing countries have been...