The patenting of biotechnological inventions potentially affects human rights in a number of ways. Human rights to identity and the practice of religion may be affected by the availability of patents on genetically modified human beings (or elements of the human body). Patents as mechanisms for...

In August 2001 the first public meeting of the American Society of International Law Project on Human Rights and International Trade (‘Project’) was held at the World Trade Institute in Berne, Switzerland. One session of that meeting was devoted to the relationship between human rights and...

We are considering the relationship between human rights and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS). Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have always reflected a balancing of general public interests and private stakeholder interests, and in this sense IPRs take into...

This contribution will focus on the legal system of the United States and will consider the recent bias of the U.S. Congress toward according a non-self-executing character to RIMs to which the United States has become party. It will also consider the theoretical case for according a...

The WTO has just finished two and one half years of negotiations on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, with an additional tranche of negotiations scheduled to commence soon. These negotiations have been extraordinarily instructive on the subject of trade diplomacy and the means by which ends...

The wheel of the global medicines supply market is broken, but proposals for fixing it are at very early stages. The patent is an instrument designed to aggregate production capital, and for some product sectors the patent may be the best means for promoting the introduction of new products. But...

This article addresses NAFTA's environment-related dispute settlement mechanisms and how these might serve as a prototype for other regional integration efforts. The article focuses on a few critical issues with respect to NAFTA's environment-related dispute mechanisms. These are: (1) whether...

This Essay considers one aspect of the regional integration phenomenon, examining it in the specific context of its present and potential impact on regimes for the protection of the environment. This Essay will consider whether the European Community model for protection of the environment may...

In the decade since the Doha Declaration was adopted, significant progress has been made in addressing problems associated with innovation and access to medicines, including through expanded financial support for procurement and distribution of treatments and vaccines and the establishment of...

Study of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) has formed an integral part of the work program of the Committee on International Trade Law of the International Law Association (ILA) since its inaugural meeting at the headquarters of the GATT in 1993. In June 1995 in...