One of the most important cases in the jurisprudence of international law – Chorzów Factory – has a hidden secret, so much so that, even when in plain sight, legal post-mortems of the case fail to mention this well-kept secret. Chorzów Factory was about intellectual property rights,...

Many investment agreements include intellectual property (IP) in the definition of ‘covered investment' or ‘asset'. Until recently, what this means in practice has not been the centre of any significant dispute. Now some IP right holders are challenging domestic intellectual property law...

Investor-state dispute-settlement (ISDS) clauses give multinational investors (corporations) a right to sue a state in a binding proceeding before an independent arbitration tribunal. This jurisgenerative right to file a claim in an international tribunal with mandatory jurisdiction is generally...

Globally, we are moving towards stronger Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have become an integral part of the regulatory system and they are included in investment, regulations and trade policies. It is now important to understand the linkage between them. Recent...

The use of TRIPS flexibilities by WTO members involves interpretation of the obligations under TRIPS which can be challenged under the WTO dispute settlement system. Mutually agreed solutions, panel or Appellate Body decisions adopted in such disputes can thus impact the scope of TRIPS...

The proposed IP and Investment Chapters in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the recent North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) investor dispute notifications by Eli Lilly against Canada has initiated the discussion concerning the impact of introducing intellectual property...

The chapter begins by describing how a handful of recent cases pertaining to IP issues in the context of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) have generated considerable interest in the interface between investment and intellectual property. It suggests that it may be useful to take a...

Enforcing intellectual property rights abroad is difficult. International treaties have generally not created directly enforceable IP rights. Usually, the protection they confer cannot be directly invoked in national courts. Because of the territorial nature of IP protection, right holders must...