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11 - Intellectual property

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2009

By
Michael Handler  and
Bryan Mercurio
Edited by
Simon Lester  and
Bryan Mercurio
Simon Lester
Affiliation:
WorldTradeLaw.net, LLC
Bryan Mercurio
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
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Summary

Introduction

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement) forever changed the relationship between intellectual property (IP) and international trade. While there had always been a link between IP and international trade, the TRIPS Agreement formally integrated the two areas at the multilateral level for the first time. The TRIPS Agreement is comprehensive in its coverage of IP: it deals with copyright and related rights, trademarks, geographical indications (GIs), industrial designs, patents, layout-designs of integrated circuits and protection of undisclosed information, and contains further provisions relating to anti-competitive practices in contractual licences and enforcement of IP rights. Further, much like other covered agreements of the WTO, the most-favoured-nation (MFN) and national treatment (NT) principles lie at the heart of the Agreement.

Where the TRIPS Agreement is perhaps unusual is that it establishes standards of IP protection that each WTO Member must accord to nationals of other Members. Such a regulatory, harmonised approach is different from the approaches of the other covered agreements of the WTO and might have prevented further developments outside of the multilateral forum. However, Members are specifically permitted under the Agreement to apply higher levels of protection if they so desire, as long as the principles of MFN and NT are respected.

Type
Chapter
Information
Bilateral and Regional Trade Agreements
Commentary and Analysis
 , pp. 308 - 341
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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