The Old Sheriff and the Vigilante : World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement and Section 301 Investigations Into Intellectual Property Disputes

The current systems available for addressing unfair trade practices involving intellectual property are ineffective. The World Trade Organizations dispute settlement process suffers from monitoring and compliance when dealing with issues involving application of laws, while the domestic process for resolving trade disputes, Section 301, suffers because it is a unilateral method that is not supported by the international community. The current accusations by the United States that China is stealing intellectual property presents an opportunity to reconsider the issue of intellectual property dispute settlement. Ideally, both unilateral and multilateral methods of dispute settlement will be utilized. Alternatively, a new method of intellectual property dispute settlement should be considered