International Trade Law Commons^™

Protection Of Test Data Under Article 39.3 Of The Trips Agreement: Advancements And Challenges After 25+ Years Of Interpretation And Application, Eric M. Solovy

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Among the types of intellectual property rights covered by the TRIPS Agreement, WTO Members must, pursuant to Article 39.3, protect certain test and other data submitted “as a condition of approving the marketing of pharmaceutical or of agricultural chemical products.” Such protection provides the incentives necessary for the biopharmaceutical industry to conduct the lengthy, expensive multi-phased clinical testing that is required to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a new drug or vaccine.

Test data protection has become increasingly more important to the development of new medicines in the past several years. That is in significant part because biologics (i.e., …

Afghanistan Legislative Commitments To The Wto: A Deeper Look At Afghanistan's Compliance With Trips, Hafizullah Seddiqi

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In 2016, Afghanistan formally acceded to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to improve its worldwide trading prospects. However, this journey began much earlier. To join the WTO, one of Afghanistan's commitments was to reform its then-existing trademark laws. Intellectual property (IP)-related laws are, in general, one of the fields that countries must reform prior to joining the WTO, so as to be in accordance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). While Afghanistan has enacted some IPrelated statutes, including the 2009 Law on Trade Marks Registration, it continues to fall short of conforming to TRIPS because …

World Trade, Imperial Fantasies And Protectionism: Can You Really Have Your Cake And Eat It Too?, Csongor I. Nagy

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Populism is telling voters what they want to hear, knowing that it is neither true, nor feasible. Lately, trade and economic integration has seen the spread of untrue and unfeasible tenets, which have proved to be highly popular and have received a warm welcome. Fueled by imperial fantasies and nostalgia for the long-gone era of protectionism, the tectonic movements of world trade have generated a good deal of populist resistance based on the self-delusion that the Gordian knot of world trade needs not to be disentangled but can be simply cut. Unfortunately, however popular and appealing these allegations are, they …

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

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 …

Strength In Intellectual Property Protection And Foreign Direct Investment Flows In Least Developed Countries, James Thuo Gathii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Lisbon Agreement: Why The United States Should Stop Fighting The Geneva Act, Danielle Dudding

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In May 2015, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a Diplomatic Conference that resulted in the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications. The Act modified the Lisbon Agreement (originally created in 1958), extending its previous protection of appellations of origin to geographical indications as well. The United States, which remains a non-party to the Lisbon Agreement, has been adamantly against the expansion of the Agreement to geographical indications. This Note explores the issues surrounding the Geneva Act, the state of the law and international agreements leading up to the Act, …

The World Trade Organization: Elevating Property Interests Above Human Rights, Marjorie Cohn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Taming The Counterfeit Dragon: The Wto, Trips And Chinese Amendments To Intellectual Property Laws, Andrew Evans

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Still Dissatisfied After All These Years: Intellectual Property, Post-Wto China, And The Avoidable Cycle Of Futility, Peter K. Yu

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Moving All-In With The World Trade Organization: Ignoring Adverse Rulings And Gambling With The Future Of The Wto, Paul Rothstein

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Dual Track Approach To Challenging Chinese Censorship In The Wto: The (Future) Case Of Google And Facebook, Anonymous

Michigan Journal of International Law

As economic and trade policies continue to affect more facets of society, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) impact on government policy and citizens’ lives has grown. Since its creation on January 1, 1995, the WTO has fostered trade liberalization negotiations and served as a forum where member countries can discuss economic concerns with one another. The WTO is perhaps best known for its dispute settlement mechanism. When countries cannot reach a mutual resolution to a conflict governed by a trade agreement, they can initiate formal legal proceedings against one another by asking for a panel to be appointed. The panel …

Rebalancing Trips, Molly Land

Michigan Journal of International Law

Application of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute resolution procedures to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement) has provoked a variety of reactions over time. At its inception, the decision to enforce the treaty through the WTO's dispute resolution process was widely viewed as a loss for developing countries. Many feared it would lead to an explosion of litigation against developing countries and cause distortions in domestic intellectual property (IP) policy making. More recent scholarship, however, has argued that these fears were unfounded. Few disputes before WTO panels have involved violations of the TRIPS Agreement, even …

Plugging The Leak In § 1498: Coercing The United States Into Notifying Patent Owners Of Government Use, Steven Rushing

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When the United States uses a patent for public, noncommercial purposes, it is required under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to provide notification to the patent owner. However, the United States has never implemented legislation to conform with its obligation and is therefore in violation of TRIPS. This Note argues that by permitting obvious and smaller violations--such as lack of notification--to fester, the United States has left the door open for other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to weaken the United States' overall trade policy. Members could likely accomplish this goal by first …

Toward A Trips Truce, Patricia L. Judd

Michigan Journal of International Law

The World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS or Agreement), now over fifteen years old, regulates a marketplace characterized by extraordinary dynamism, influenced by the constant forces of globalization and technological evolution. Attempts to regulate this market raise natural, persistent questions concerning the Agreement's ability to serve its respective constituencies and adapt to change. The Agreement operates in the midst of an age-old dynamic pitting developing and developed countries against one another, especially when it comes to domestic enforcement against piracy and counterfeiting-a dynamic in which TRIPS has been criticized as a one-sided instrument. …

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

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 …

Fish Or Fowl? The Nature Of Wto Dispute Resolution Under Trips, Anne Hiaring

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

This note discusses the procedure of dispute resolution in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The note goes on to discuss WTO disputes involving intellectual property to date and the possible impacts of the WTO dispute resolution procedures on the determination of substantive issues of intellectual property law, using dispute WS 160 involving the Fairness in Music Licensing Act, as an example. The note concludes that the same concerns about lack of due process and inability of amici to appear in the proceedings that cause concern in the environmental field are also causes of concern with respect to intellectual property rights …

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 …

Here There Be Pirates: How China Is Meeting Its Ip Enforcement Obligations Under Trips, Kate Colpitts Hunter

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper will examine whether China is meeting its obligations to protect IP rights under the TRIPS agreement, an international intellectual property trade agreement China acceded to upon joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Moreover, it will address whether China's increased IP protection in law equals increased protection in fact. Part II will describe China's legal structure, its TRIPS obligations upon joining the WTO, and China's IP laws. Part III will discuss China's enforcement of these IP laws from the perspective of developed nations and from China's own perspective. Part IV includes suggestions on how China can improve its enforcement …

Anti-Competitive Abuse Of Ip Rights And Compulsory Licensing Through The International Dimension Of The Trips Agreement And The Stockholm Proposal For Its Amendment, Haris Apostolopoulos

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Paper Dragon: Inadequate Protection Of Intellectual Property Rights In China, Omario Kanji

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will explore the extent to which China is in violation of its obligations under TRIPs. Section I surveys the current state of IPR infringement in China. Section II analyzes relevant TRIPs provisions, case law, and treaties that supplement TRIPs provisions. Section III analyzes Chinese criminal law, the December 2004 Judicial Interpretation of Chinese criminal law, and Chinese IP law as they pertain to IPR infringement. Section IV outlines enforcement efforts in China against the backdrop of the law analyzed in the previous section. Section V evaluates these enforcement efforts given China's capabilities and obligations, and Section VI concludes …

Cracks In The Great Wall: Why China's Copyright Law Has Failed To Prevent Piracy Of American Movies Within Its Borders, Jordana Cornish

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This note examines the current state of China's intellectual property rights protection as it relates to movie piracy. Part I examines the different types of film piracy occurring in China and the current severity of the problem for the United States motion picture industry. Part II traces the history of copyright law in China and examines China's commitments under the international copyright treaties it has signed with the United States and other nations through its recent accession to the WTO. Part III discusses why movie piracy in China is still on the rise despite these commitments and highlights why cultural, …

Power, Norms, And International Intellectual Property Law, Tai-Heng Cheng

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article begins with the premise that international law is the net result of global processes of interactions among state and non-state participants in the international system. The Article builds on the author’s previous work by proposing a theory of international law that fills the interstices between private and public international law. Participants generally deploy power and invoke legal and social norms in pursuit of interests and in response to the strategies of other participants. Eventually, outcomes that reflect both power and norms result, and these outcomes in turn modify norms and reallocate power. New outcomes then follow in future …

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 …

Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, scholars and commentators around the world have reexamined the role intellectual property rights (IPRs) play in hindering or helping developing countries. These scholars have questioned the doctrine the IPRs help developing countries by promoting economic development, increasing foreign direct investment, stimulating domestic innovation, and improving access to new technologies, and have concluded that imposing "Western-styled" intellectual property regimes (e.g., the U.S. patent regime) on developing countries harms those countries. In particular, such regimes fail to bring any of the purported benefits, while they impose many costs, including preventing people from obtaining life-saving drugs. This Article argues that it is …

The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has changed prospects for access to necessary medications in the developing world. The use of compulsory licensing for pharmaceutical products embodied in Article 31 of TRIPS has been a contentious issue. Prior to 2003, countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own were not allowed to import medicines made under compulsory license, rendering the protections of Article 31 of little use to them. The 2003 Motta Agreement changed this. This expansion of the compulsory licensing power is both an impractical solution and it dilutes the premises upon which TRIPS was originally …

Assessing Clashes And Interplays Of Regines From A Distributive Perspective: Ip Rights Under The Strengthened Embargo Against Cuba And The Agreement On Trips, Robert Dufresne

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the clash of the two regulatory frameworks from the angle of distributive justice. By doing so, I suggest that in addition to the important issues of legitimacy, substantive norms, and hierarchy of legal orders, clashes between potential regulatory frameworks should also be conceptualized in the way in which they allocate goods (here the rights associated with IP) or recognize claims to or interests in such goods. The reasons for being concerned with distributive justice are threefold.

Knowledge, Legitimacy, Efficiency And The Institutionalization Of Dispute Settlement Procedures At The World Trade Organization And The World Intellectual Property Organization, Michael P. Ryan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

International legal research regarding international economic dispute settlement tends to be a-theoretical. A theoretically-grounded analytic framework is employed in this article which draws from scholarship from political science, sociology, and economics regarding institutions and international governmental organizations. The knowledge-legitimacy-efficiency analytic framework is applied in this article to studies of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GA TT)/World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement in order to relate this relevant scholarship to the economic field under primary study, Internet domain names. GA TT/WTO knowledge regarding international trade law has thickened through multi-lateral trade negotiations and dispute settlement decisions. The WTO's legitimacy is …

Combating Copyright Infringement In Russia: A Comprehensive Approach For Western Plaintiffs, David E. Miller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article addresses several measures that U.S. and European firms can undertake to combat copyright infringing activities in Russia. First, the Article attempts to dispel the notion that Russian law and the Russian government are inadequate to deal with copyright and piracy problems. In fact, recent surveys suggest that foreign plaintffs have achieved some success in arbitrazh courts. Furthermore, Russian authorities have begun to take steps to ensure that these decisions will be enforced.

Second, the Author suggests that the United States and European nations can apply pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure compliance with copyright laws in the …