Fifteen years after the WTO TRIPS Agreement entered into force, international IP law and policy have moved on. Since the mid-nineties, countries interested in higher IP standards have successfully shifted IP negotiations away from WIPO and WTO towards Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). The trend...

Dispute settlement Panels and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have long been criticised for a ‘textual’ approach to treaty interpretation which focuses too much on the ordinary meaning of treaty provisions. Arguably this approach responded to fears of judicial...

Reliance on statements issued by the Chairman of a WTO organ has its origins in the diplomacy-style decision making under the GATT 1947 and continues in the WTO. They have featured prominently in the debate concerning TRIPS and Public Health where their legal status and their role in...

In two recent prominent disputes in the World Trade Organization (WTO), developing country complainants are using the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to induce compliance with favorable WTO rulings. Brazil in the US - Cotton dispute and Antigua in...

International intellectual property (IP) protection is increasingly governed by a network of bilateral and regional treaties. Most of these contain obligations on the protection and enforcement of IP that set significantly higher standards than those of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of...