Current Alliances in International Intellectual Property Lawmaking : The Emergence and Impact of Mega-Regionals

The fourth issue of the series jointly published by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the Center for International Intellectual Property Studies explores the impact of plurilateralism on intellectual property law. The chapters making up this volume review systemic, substantive and enforcement-related issues arising from plurilateralism, and do so by analysing the past, the current context and the most recently negotiated plurilateral trade agreements.As noted in one of the contributions, times have clearly been turbulent for global trade. Mounting critiques on the apparent failure of trade to enhance productivity, investment and technology flows have only been met with a greater slump in the growth of global trade and the rise of protectionism. At the same time, the number of free trade agreements has burgeoned as a result of longstanding disagreements between countries at the multilateral level on a variety of issues. Data from the World Trade Organization highlight the growing number of regional trade agreements since 1995.Against this backdrop, this volume gathers contributions by well-known researchers writing from distinctive perspectives and reflecting on the systemic consequences of plurilateralism and the implications of these trends for the international system. The analyses by Thomas Cottier, Frederick Abbott, Mira Burri, Peter Yu, Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Pedro Roffe and Xavier Seuba share, moreover, the broader policy interest of achieving a balance of interests and inclusiveness in the intellectual property system