Law Commons^™

A Supplementary Submission On Trojan Horse Clauses: Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Executive Summary This supplementary submission considers a number of new developments in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Canada, North America, the European Union, and Africa. This supplementary submission highlights the application of Investor-State Dispute Settlement in the context of water rights, intellectual property, and media regulation. This supplementary submission also highlights the conflict between domestic courts and international tribunals in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, raising significant issues about the rule of law and justice. Recommendation 14 In light of the work of Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians, it is evident that Investor-State Dispute Settlement has a significant impact upon water …

Trips-Plus Trade And Investment Agreements: Why More May Be Less For Economic Development, Christine Farley

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Conventional wisdom -- but not empirical research -- maintains that strong intellectual property (“IP”) rights trigger not only foreign direct investment, but also local innovation. Thus investors seek, and developing countries compete to offer, the highest levels of IP protections. But evaluating the level of IP protection in any given country has become increasingly complex. A proliferation of bilateral agreements, such as free trade agreements (“FTAs”) and bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”), intended to enhance the minimum standards set forth in The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”), have created uncertainty about precisely what IP protections are …

Territorial Exclusivity In U.S. Copyright And Trademark Law, Christine Haight Farley

Contributions to Books

Currently, U.S. trademark and copyright law both adopt employ a regime of international exhaustion of rights with respect to parallel importation after the Supreme Court ruled in Kirtsaeng last term. This agreement belies the fact that these two areas of law have developed in nearly divergent directions and have resulted in faltering intellectual property and trade policies. Currently, interpretation of the first sale doctrine hinges on the particular legal characteristics of both trademarks and copyrights. When dealing with trademarks, courts ultimately focus on the source of origin, taking into account consumer expectations or, instead, focusing on the business relationship, if …

Trade Secrets, Trade, And Extraterritoriality, Elizabeth A. Rowe, Daniel M. Mahfood

UF Law Faculty Publications

When a foreign individual or company misappropriates the trade secrets of an American company, and the acts of misappropriation occur entirely outside of the United States, the trade secret law of the United States generally will not apply. This represents the principle of extraterritoriality, and identifies a major vulnerability for companies that choose to conduct operations or engage in other business abroad. In such situations, the substantive and procedural laws of another country are likely to define whether the allegedly misappropriated information is protected and has been misappropriated.

Providing a domestic forum to prosecute extraterritorial infringement would substantially benefit domestic …

Territorial Exclusivity In U.S. Copyright And Trademark Law, Christine Farley

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Currently, U.S. trademark and copyright law both adopt employ a regime of international exhaustion of rights with respect to parallel importation after the Supreme Court ruled in Kirtsaeng last term. This agreement belies the fact that these two areas of law have developed in nearly divergent directions and have resulted in faltering intellectual property and trade policies. Currently, interpretation of the first sale doctrine hinges on the particular legal characteristics of both trademarks and copyrights. When dealing with trademarks, courts ultimately focus on the source of origin, taking into account consumer expectations or, instead, focusing on the business relationship, if …

The Capture Of International Intellectual Property Law Through The U.S. Trade Regime, Margot E. Kaminski

Publications

For years, the United States has included intellectual property ("IP") law in its free trade agreements. This Article finds that the IP law in recent U.S. free trade agreements differs subtly but significantly from U.S. IP law. These differences are not the result of deliberate government choices, but of the capture of the U.S. trade regime.

A growing number of voices has publicly criticized the lack of transparency and democratic accountability in the trade agreement negotiating process. But legal scholarship largely praises the 'fast track" trade negotiating system. This Article reorients the debate over the trade negotiating process away from …