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Mitigating The Effects Of Intellectual Property Colonialism On Budding Cannabis Markets, Hughie Kellner Aug 2021

Mitigating The Effects Of Intellectual Property Colonialism On Budding Cannabis Markets, Hughie Kellner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Globalization has reduced barriers to trade, communication, and understanding, opening opportunities that extend far beyond national borders. However, in this bounty of opportunity lie obligations, and often those obligations tie a nation's hands when trying to deal with a problem that arises. One obligation nations face is upholding the United Nations' (UN) decision to prevent the illicit use of cannabis. Another is supporting and following the World Trade Organization's (WTO) near elimination of barriers for companies to bring patent and trademark protection with them into any country they do business with. In a modern globalized economy, if a nation fails …


A Higher Authority: Canada’S Cannabis Legalization In The Context Of International Law, Antonia Eliason, Robert Howse Jan 2019

A Higher Authority: Canada’S Cannabis Legalization In The Context Of International Law, Antonia Eliason, Robert Howse

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this Article provides an overview of some of the key terms and provisions of Canada’s Cannabis Act. Part II looks at the Cannabis Act in the context of the International Drug Conventions, examining how the various convention provisions might apply, looking first at the Single Convention and then at the 1988 Convention and how that convention fits with Canadian constitutional provisions. Part III focuses on the international human rights framework and how the Cannabis Act might be viewed as compatible with international human rights law even where incompatible with the International Drug Conventions. This Part also offers …


Regional Disputes: It Is Not Just Ground Beef, Nicholas W. Laneville Oct 2017

Regional Disputes: It Is Not Just Ground Beef, Nicholas W. Laneville

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.


Never For-Gatt: What Recent Tbt Decisions Reveal About The Appellate Body’S Analysis Of Environmental Regulation Under The Wto Agreements, Ravi Soopramanien Oct 2017

Never For-Gatt: What Recent Tbt Decisions Reveal About The Appellate Body’S Analysis Of Environmental Regulation Under The Wto Agreements, Ravi Soopramanien

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Few environmentalists have positive things to say on the impact of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the environment. WTO legal obligations are frequently cited as the most significant impediment to a range of environmental initiatives, including notably meaningful international coordination to combat climate change, particularly through carbon tax initiatives, and imposition of electronic waste disposal export bans. In this vein, adverse findings of WTO dispute panels on environmental conservation measures tend to attract the ire of international civil society. The tensions between liberal trade and environmental protection can be traced back to the days of the General Agreement on …


Price Controls Through The Back Door: The Parallel Importation Of Pharmaceuticals, A. Bryan Baer Oct 2016

Price Controls Through The Back Door: The Parallel Importation Of Pharmaceuticals, A. Bryan Baer

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.


The Technical Barriers To Trade Agreement: A Reconciliation Of Divergent Values In The Global Trading System, Samantha Gaul Jan 2016

The Technical Barriers To Trade Agreement: A Reconciliation Of Divergent Values In The Global Trading System, Samantha Gaul

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the context of multilateral trading, there is a historical tension between economically oriented, laissez-faire, pro-trade concerns as they are juxtaposed with social, environmental, and health concerns. These conflicting values are inextricable from one another in a world that encourages, and quite frankly mandates, a high level of economic interdependency. But what if institutional actors could reconcile these conflicting values—at least toward the more efficient and practical goals of alleviating (rather than eliminating) the underlying tension? This Note argues that Article 2.2 of the World Trade Organization’s Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement operates to reconcile these fundamental tensions to some …


Raging Hormones: A Discussion Of The World Trade Organization's Decision In The European Union-United States Beef Dispute, George H. Rountree Oct 2014

Raging Hormones: A Discussion Of The World Trade Organization's Decision In The European Union-United States Beef Dispute, George H. Rountree

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.


International Trade Law And The U.S.-Eu Gmo Debate: Can Africa Weather This Storm?, Michelle K. Mcdonald Sep 2014

International Trade Law And The U.S.-Eu Gmo Debate: Can Africa Weather This Storm?, Michelle K. Mcdonald

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.


Food Miles: Environmental Protection Or Veiled Protectionism?, Meredith Kolsky Lewis, Andrew D. Mitchell Jan 2014

Food Miles: Environmental Protection Or Veiled Protectionism?, Meredith Kolsky Lewis, Andrew D. Mitchell

Michigan Journal of International Law

Eat local. Such a small phrase yet such a loaded proposition. Buying food from nearby sources has become a popular objective. This aim is associated with helping farmers in one’s country or region; observing the seasonality of one’s location; eating fresher foods; striving for food security; and protecting the environment. One of the unmistakable messages of the “locavore” movement is that importing food—particularly food that comes from far away—causes environmental harm. The theory is that transporting food long distances results in the release of high levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and is thus a dangerous contributor to …


A Failure To Consider: Why Lawmakers Create Risk By Ignoring Trade Obligations, David R. Kocan Professor Mar 2013

A Failure To Consider: Why Lawmakers Create Risk By Ignoring Trade Obligations, David R. Kocan Professor

David R. Kocan Professor

The U.S. Congress frequently passes laws facially unrelated to trade that significantly impact U.S. trade relations. These impacts are often harmful, significant, and long-lasting. Despite this fact, these bills rarely receive adequate consideration of how they will impact trade. Without this consideration, Congress cannot properly conduct a cost-benefit analysis necessary to pass effective laws. To remedy this problem, the U.S. Trade Representative should evaluate U.S. domestic law to determine whether it is consistent with international trade obligations. Moreover, the U.S. Congress committee structure should be amended so that laws that might impact trade are considered within that light. In the …


United States--Certain Measures Affecting Imports Of Poultry From China: The Fascinating Case That Wasn't, Donald H. Regan Jan 2012

United States--Certain Measures Affecting Imports Of Poultry From China: The Fascinating Case That Wasn't, Donald H. Regan

Articles

US–Poultry (China) was the first Panel decision dealing with an origin-specific SPS measure, or with what the United States referred to as an ‘equivalence regime’. More specifically, it was the first instance in which the basis for the challenged measure was the claimed inability of the complainant country to enforce its own food-safety rules. Unfortunately, as the litigation developed, the very interesting novel issues raised by such a measure were not discussed. This essay discusses those novel issues – in particular, what sort of scientific justification or risk assessment should be required for a measure like this, and what SPS …


Breaking Patents, Daniel R. Cahoy Apr 2011

Breaking Patents, Daniel R. Cahoy

Michigan Journal of International Law

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Boeing aircraft company worked to address the rising cost of jet fuel by inventing lighter metal alloys for use in aerospace materials. Among its discoveries was a method of producing aluminum-lithium alloys with high "fracture toughness," and in 1989, Boeing received a patent for the process. Five years later, another aerospace company working as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contractor, Lockheed Martin, was attempting to solve a similar problem related to materials used in the space shuttle. Lighter materials were necessary for future shuttle missions to transport components of the International Space …


Public Non-Commercial Use' Compulsory Licensing For Pharmaceutical Drugs In Government Health Care Programs, Pier Deroo Feb 2011

Public Non-Commercial Use' Compulsory Licensing For Pharmaceutical Drugs In Government Health Care Programs, Pier Deroo

Michigan Journal of International Law

Suppose a relatively prosperous nation with universal public health coverage faces an HIV/AIDS crisis. It refuses to negotiate with the patent-holding manufacturers of the best antiretrovirals (ARVs) available, instead issuing compulsory licenses. Compulsory licenses permit the generic drug manufacturers designated in the compulsory licenses to make, use, import, and sell the patented ARVs without the permission of the patent owners, increasing competition and lowering prices. Realizing that drugs are much cheaper without patents, the nation decides to issue another round of compulsory licenses for an extensive list of patented drugs for its universal health care program. While improving public access …


Special 301 Of The Trade Act Of 1974 And Global Access To Medicine, Sean Flynn Jan 2010

Special 301 Of The Trade Act Of 1974 And Global Access To Medicine, Sean Flynn

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Since its inception in 1988, the United States Trade Representative’s “Special 301” adjudication of foreign intellectual property law standards has been used to promote policies restricting access to affordable medications around the world. President-elect Obama released a platform promising to “break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on these life-saving drugs” and pledged support for “the rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost generic medication to meet their pressing public health needs.” The 2009 and 2010 Special 301 reports, however, indicate that the Obama Administration has not yet implemented this pledge into administration trade …


An Economic Justification For Open Access To Essential Medicine Patents In Developing Countries, Sean Flynn, Aidan Hollis, Mike Palmedo Jan 2009

An Economic Justification For Open Access To Essential Medicine Patents In Developing Countries, Sean Flynn, Aidan Hollis, Mike Palmedo

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This paper offers an economic rationale for compulsory licensing of needed medicines in developing countries. The patent system is based on a trade-off between the “deadweight losses” caused by market power and the incentive to innovate created by increased profits from monopoly pricing during the period of the patent. However, markets for essential medicines under patent in developing countries with high income inequality are characterized by highly convex demand curves, producing large deadweight losses relative to potential profits when monopoly firms exercise profit-maximizing pricing strategies. As a result, these markets are systematically ill-suited to exclusive marketing rights, a problem which …


A Healthy Solution For Patients And Patents: How India's Legal Victory Against A Pharmaceutical Giant Reconciles Human Rights With Intellectual Property Rights, Sara B. Myers Jan 2008

A Healthy Solution For Patients And Patents: How India's Legal Victory Against A Pharmaceutical Giant Reconciles Human Rights With Intellectual Property Rights, Sara B. Myers

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Swiss drug company Novartis challenged India's status as the "Pharmacy of the Developing World" when it initiated a lawsuit against the Indian government on February 15, 2007. In 2005, India updated its Patents Act to comply with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) intellectual property requirements. Before 2005, India only granted patents to processes, not products, which facilitated the development of the country's booming generic drug industry. On January 25, 2006, India's Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks denied Novartis's patent application for its cancer-fighting drug Glivec on the grounds that it was not substantially different …


Regulatory Marketing Approval For Pharmaceuticals As A Non-Tariff Barrier To Trade: Analysis Under The Wto's Agreement On Technical Barriers To Trade, Mary Hess Eliason May 2007

Regulatory Marketing Approval For Pharmaceuticals As A Non-Tariff Barrier To Trade: Analysis Under The Wto's Agreement On Technical Barriers To Trade, Mary Hess Eliason

San Diego International Law Journal

At a fundamental level, pharmaceuticals serve two roles: both as a cure for disease and as a product. As a cure for disease, a drug's value cannot be quantified because it saves lives. As a product, profit analysis shapes every step of a drug's progression to market. In least developed nations the barriers to drug access are not solely economic. National regulatory systems for market approval are being used to prevent external pharmaceutical manufacturers from participating in a national market. This article will address how the regulatory framework of pharmaceutical registration may serve as a barrier to trade in drugs, …


Food Safety, South-North Asymmetries, And The Clash Of Regulatory Regimes, Obijiofor Aginam Jan 2007

Food Safety, South-North Asymmetries, And The Clash Of Regulatory Regimes, Obijiofor Aginam

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article explores the globalization of food safety concerns driven by the phenomenon of economic globalization, and the "legalization" of food safety disputes within the rules-based architecture of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Focusing on the interaction between WTO norms and the treaties of other multilateral organizations, the Article discusses the implications of the "clash of food safety regulatory regimes" for South-North asymmetrical relations between the rich and poor countries. The Article also discusses global economic diplomacy and the emerging WTO jurisprudence on the Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures (SPS) disputes. This Article explores both the perceived and actual …


Title Iii Of The Bioterrorism Act: Sacrificing U.S. Trade Relations In The Name Of Food Security, Claire S. Boisen Jan 2007

Title Iii Of The Bioterrorism Act: Sacrificing U.S. Trade Relations In The Name Of Food Security, Claire S. Boisen

American University Law Review

Part I examines in detail the two conflicting laws that are the basis of this Comment—Title III of the Bioterrorism Act and the SPS Agreement—focusing on those portions of Title III that adversely impact international trade. Part I also presents the WTO case EC Measures Concerning Meat and Meat Products (Hormones), the first food regulation case disputed in the WTO system for a violation of the SPS Agreement. This case clarified the two major principles of the SPS Agreement that are explored in this Comment: the prohibition on discrimination and the obligation to support trade–restrictive measures with an analytical risk …


Staying Within The Negotiated Framework: Abiding By The Non-Discrimination Clause In Trips Article 27, Kevin J. Nowak Jan 2005

Staying Within The Negotiated Framework: Abiding By The Non-Discrimination Clause In Trips Article 27, Kevin J. Nowak

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note argues that the Panel in Canada-Generic Medicines correctly decided that the non-discrimination clause in Article 27 applies to the exceptions of Articles 30 and 31. Because Article 27 is the guiding force of Section 5, any exceptions to the rights granted under Section 5 must comply with the requirements set forth in Article 27. Although extreme applications of the non-discrimination clause could be limiting upon some exceptions, Articles 30 and 31 were not placed into TRIPs as complete escape clauses from the framework of Section 5. Additionally, the application of the non-discrimination clause to Articles 30 and 31 …


Wto And Gmos: Analyzing The European Community's Recent Regulations Covering The Labeling Of Genetically Modified Organisms, Brian Schwartz Jan 2004

Wto And Gmos: Analyzing The European Community's Recent Regulations Covering The Labeling Of Genetically Modified Organisms, Brian Schwartz

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note explores the compatibility of the EC's GMO regulations within the framework of the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures ("SPS Agreement"), the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade ("TBT Agreement"), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 ("GATT 1994" or "GAT"), all integral parts of the WTO Agreement. Part II presents arguments for or against the use of GM-products. Part III explores the concept of ecolabeling by analyzing the general goals of such programs, including the economic theory behind green consumerism and the characteristics necessary for effective schemes. Part IV describes the core …


The New Codex Alimentarius Commission Standards For Food Created With Modern Biotechnology: Implications For The Ec Gmo Framework's Compliance With The Sps Agreement, Aaron A. Ostrovsky Jan 2004

The New Codex Alimentarius Commission Standards For Food Created With Modern Biotechnology: Implications For The Ec Gmo Framework's Compliance With The Sps Agreement, Aaron A. Ostrovsky

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note makes two assertions. First, despite the fact that the Codex guidelines do not specifically invoke the Precautionary Principle in name, it can indeed be read into the guidelines in the amount of deference given to states in how they assess risk. This in turn means that the E.C.'s Deliberate Release Directive should be enjoy a presumption of compliance with both the SPS Agreement and the GATT. The second assertion is that even if the adjudicating body of the WTO finds that the Deliberate Release Directive, in relying on the Precautionary Principle, prescribes a higher level of protection than …


Disciplining Globalization: International Law, Illegal Trade, And The Case Of Narcotics, Chantal Thomas Jan 2003

Disciplining Globalization: International Law, Illegal Trade, And The Case Of Narcotics, Chantal Thomas

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article is the first in a series of studies of the globalization of illicit markets. My theses are as follows: First, the increase in international trade in illicit products and services parallels the growth in international trade more generally that accompanies the phenomenon of globalization. Second, at the same time that most international trade law has moved toward a posture of liberalization, there has been a movement to strengthen the prohibition and punishment of trade in illicit transactions. Third, the mechanisms that have developed to regulate this prohibition constitute a significant development in the international legal order.


Democracy, Science, And Free Trade: Risk Regulation On Trial At The World Trade Organization, Robert Howse Jun 2000

Democracy, Science, And Free Trade: Risk Regulation On Trial At The World Trade Organization, Robert Howse

Michigan Law Review

Among the most common critiques of globalization is that it increasingly constrains the ability of democratic communities to make unfettered choices about policies that affect the fundamental welfare of their citizens, including those of health and safety, the environment, and consumer protection. Traditionally, free trade rules were about constraining border measures such as tariffs and quantitative restrictions on imports. Increasingly, however, such rules include requirements and constraints addressed directly to domestic regulation. For example, a country's policies with respect to intellectual property rights or its regulatory approach to network industries, such as telecommunications, may now be fundamentally shaped by rules …