International Trade Law Commons^™

Uberregulation Without Economics: The World Trade Organization's Decision In The U.S.-Mexico Arbitration On Telecommunications Services, General Agreement On Trade In Services, Gats, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

In April 2004, a World Trade Organization ("WTO") arbitration panel found that Mexico had violated its commitments under the Annex on Telecommunications to the General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS") by failing to ensure that Telmex, Mexico's largest supplier of basic telecommunications services, provide interconnection to U.S. telecommunications carriers at international settlement rates that were costoriented. The WTO panel deemed long run average incremental cost ("LRAIC") to be the appropriate cost standard for setting settlement rates. Mexico thus became obliged to change its domestic telecommunications regulations or face trade sanctions. The decision is the first WTO arbitration to deal …

Between Dialogue And Decree: International Review Of National Courts, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the number of international tribunals at work across the globe, from the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Claims in Switzerland and the International Criminal Court. With this development has come both increased opportunity for interaction between national and international courts and increased occasion for conflict. Such friction was evident in the recent decision in Loewen Group, Inc. v. United States, in which an arbitral panel constituted under the North American Free Trade Agreement found …

Hyperownership In A Time Of Biotechnological Promise: The International Conflict To Control The Building Blocks Of Life, Sabrina Safrin

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

This article addresses the corrosive interplay between the patent-based and the sovereign- based systems of ownership of genetic material. In patent-based systems, genetic material is increasingly “owned” by corporations or research institutions which obtain patents over such material. In sovereign-based systems, the national government owns or extensively controls such material. As more patents issue for synthesized genes in developed countries through the patent system, more raw genetic material is legally enclosed by the governments of developing nations, which house most of the world’s wild or raw genetic material. This interactive spiral of increased enclosure results in the sub-optimal utilization, conservation …

Currents And Crosscurrents In The International Intellectual Property Regime, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Since the establishment of the TRIPs Agreement, intellectual property protection has been expanding rapidly, and many less developed countries have become dissatisfied with the international intellectual property regime. From bilateral free trade agreements to the increasing use of technological protection measures, many commentators fear that the recent "one-way ratchet" will roll back the substantive and strategic gains made by less developed countries during the negotiation of the TRIPS Agreement. Interestingly, intellectual property rightsholders feel equally threatened by the recent developments, in particular the development of the Doha Declaration, the World Summit on the Information Society, the WIPO Development Agenda, and …

The Law In Action At The Wto, Spencer Weber Waller

ExpressO

This review of Gregory Shaffer's new book "Defending Interests: Private-Public Partnerships in WTO Litigation" argues that Shaffer has made an important contribution to the field of international economic law. Shaffer does this by using the insights of legal realism and strong empirical work to illustrate "the law in action" rather than "the law on the books" in terms of how international trade cases in the WTO are actually generated and resolved.

Amid Scarcity, Emerging Global Society Requires Justice, Frank Garcia

Frank J. Garcia

No abstract provided.

Good Faith In The Cisg: Interpretation Problems In Article 7, Benedict C. Sheehy

ExpressO

ABSTRACT: This article examines the dispute concerning the meaning of Good Faith in the CISG. Although there are good reasons for arguing a more limited interpretation or more limited application of Good Faith, there are also good reasons for a broader approach. Regardless of the correct interpretation, however, practitioners and academics need to have a sense of where the actual jurisprudence is going. This article reviews every published case on Article 7 since its inception and concludes that while there is little to suggest a strong pattern is developing, a guided pattern while incorrect doctrinally is preferable to the current …

International Legal Compliance: Surveying The Discipline, William C. Bradford

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Wto Enforcement Mechanism, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper attempts to develop a formal economic framework to analyze the influences of domestic political considerations by democratic governments in shaping the WTO enforcement outcomes following a violation ruling against the defendant. Since a different mix of import and export sectors in the defendant and complainant country will benefit from the various potential enforcement outcomes, they become competing forces which steer the strategic interactions between the disputing governments. The results of the paper illustrate the complainant's strategy in selecting the retaliation list, and the likelihood of the defendant's compliance or compensation in response to the proposed or foreseeable retaliation, …

Patent Rights On Pharmaceutical Products And Affordable Drugs: Can Trips Provide A Solution?, Amit Gupta

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Isi, Po! Foreign Investment Dispute Resolution Does Have A Place In Trade Agreements In The Americas: A Comparative Look At Chapter 10 Of The United States -Chile Free Trade Agreement, Scott R. Jablonski

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Wto Enforcement Mechanism, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper attempts to develop a formal economic framework to analyze the influences of domestic political considerations by democratic governments in shaping the WTO enforcement outcomes following a violation ruling against the defendant. Since a different mix of import and export sectors in the defendant and complainant country will benefit from the various potential enforcement outcomes, they become competing forces which steer the strategic interactions between the disputing governments. The results of the paper illustrate the complainant's strategy in selecting the retaliation list, and the likelihood of the defendant's compliance or compensation in response to the proposed or foreseeable retaliation, …

Cambodia's Wto Accession: A Strenuous But Necessary Step For A Poor Nation Seeking Economic Prosperity, Rebecca Povarchuk

Washington International Law Journal

During the 2003 World Trade Organization ("WTO") Ministerial Conference, Cambodia became the first least-developed nation to accede to the WTO through the organization's full working party accession process. Due to domestic, political, and economic pressures to accede, Cambodia agreed to an arduous package of legal and economic reform that have left many, including Cambodian officials, wondering whether the small country is capable of meeting its obligations. Having plunged into the WTO with the belief that accession is its best hope for a prosperous future, Cambodia now faces the challenges of implementation. In arguing against WTO membership for Cambodia, critics condemn …

Deconstructing Development, Ruth E. Gordon, Jon H. Sylvester

Working Paper Series

Whether it is being praised or excoriated, defended or condemned, the concept of development shapes and dominates our thinking about the Third World. Indeed development has evolved into an essentially incontestable paradigm with such a hold on our collective imaginations, that it is almost impossible to think around or beyond it. This article, however, interrogates development to its very core, demonstrating that although it is presented as something that is universal, natural and inevitable, in truth it is part of the Western political and cultural imagination. Moreover, the interlocking ideological assumptions that support this paradigm are inherently hierarchical and by …

Modern Bootlegging And The Prohibition On Fair Prices: Last Call For The Repeal Of Pharmaceutical Price Gouging, Luke W. Cleland

ExpressO

This article discusses the recent passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003, and the executive and judicial decisions affecting the ability of the general public to access foreign pharmaceutical markets. The article examines the recent actions taken by the U.S. government, explore various state movements within the United States aimed at reducing pharmaceutical drug prices, outline the process of pharmaceutical drug prices in foreign countries, and advocate for a workable integration of all available mechanisms to feasibly reduce prescription drug prices for the benefit of both U.S. consumers and U.S. drug companies. As avenues to …

The New Partnership For Africa's Development: Institutional And Legal Challenges Of Investment Promotion, Victor Mosoti

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper is divided into five parts. Part I introduces NEPAD, its philosophical basis and objectives. Part II discusses the investment promotion role of NEPAD and its difference from past development thinking about Africa's problems. In Part III we discuss NEPAD's strategy for realizing investment flows into Africa, some of the NEPAD's institutional weaknesses, and the repercussions thereof in realizing the NEPAD objectives. It also highlights the potential implications of NEPAD to the regional integration plan in Africa. Taking into account the supposed political clash between NEPAD and the AU, Part IV discusses possible ways of restructuring NEPAD to enable …

Fishing For Rainbows, The Fsc Repeal And Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act, Stuart Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

On August 30, 2002, the final decision was released in the case of United States-Tax Treatment for "Foreign Sales Corporations". The World Trade Organization arbitration panel report authorizes the European Communities to levy $4.043 billion in annual trade sanctions against imports from the United States because of a provision in the U.S. tax code. "The FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000", the most recent of 40 years worth of half-hearted attempts by the United States to comply with world trading body regulations, is the current offender. According to the arbitration panel, the act subsidizes foreign sales by …

The Jekyll And Hyde Story Of International Trade: The Supreme Court In Phrma V. Walsh And The Trips Agreement, Srividhya Ragavan

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Jekyll And Hyde Story Of International Trade: The Supreme Court In Phrma V. Walsh And The Trips Agreement, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The paper analyses the international impact of the approval by the United States Supreme Court to use indirect price control mechanisms to tackle public health and Medicaid issues. It traces similarities in policies implemented by the United States and those it opposed within developing nations. For example, the recent use by the developed nations of compulsory licensing and price control mechanisms, which they opposed as violating TRIPS when used by developing nations, underlines a poverty penalty suffered by developing nation signatories of TRIPS. In effect, TRIPS exempts developed nations from fulfilling obligations developing nations were forced to fulfill and thus …

Not Enough? An Examination Of China’S Compliance With The Intentions Of The Trips Accord, Jonathan Mark W.W. Chu

ExpressO

As China is in its third year as a member of the World Trade organization, there is much anticipation as to whether its protection of intellectual property rights is up to international standards. Being one of the largest trading nations in the world, much attention has been given to China’s development since its accession to the WTO. The US Chamber of Commerce has recently made a visit to China in order to examine its progress on implementing WTO rules and the WTO’s Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference will be hosted by Hong Kong, China. As an increasing amount of …

Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee

ExpressO

The highly publicized safeguard measures applied by the United States to an array of steel products in 2002 became one of the biggest and the most controversial trade disputes in recent history. Virtually all major trading nations in the world, including European Communities, Japan, China, Brazil, Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway were the direct parties to this dispute with the United States. The contentious legal grounds of the U.S. safeguard measures as well as the lack of adequate consultations between the United States and its trading counterparts have brought the international community close to a full-scale trade war. This …

Trips' Rebound: How The Agreement On Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights ("Trips") Can Ricochet Back Against The United States: An Historical Analysis, Donald Harris

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Patent Wars In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death: The Pharmaceutical Industry, Ethics And Global Trade, Uche Ewelukwa

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Catfish Wars: Vietnam's Fight For Free Trade In The U.S. Court Of International Trade, Amalia R. Walton

Washington International Law Journal

Since the end of the Vietnam War, relations between the United States and Vietnam have been largely based on trade, causing both cooperation and conflict. Beginning in the 1990s, economic exchange between the two nations was encouraged through the 1994 lifting of the post-war trade embargo, the 1998 waiver of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, and the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement in 2000. Vietnam's successful catfish industry was born of this cooperation but, soon after the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement went into effect, became the source of international controversy. U.S. catfish farmers responded to competition from lower-priced Vietnamese catfish …

Lawyers, Gats, And The Wto Accountancy Disciplines: The History Of The Wto's Consultation, The Iba Gats Forum And The September 2003 Iba Resolutions, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

The article addresses issues related to legal services and the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS. The article begins by focusing on "Track #2" of the GATS and the obligation under GATS Article VI:4 to develop "any necessary disciplines." In 1998, WTO Members implemented GATS Article VI:4 by adopting "Disciplines" that apply to the accoutnancy sector. WTO Members currently are in the process of deciding whether to extend the WTO Accountancy Disciplines, S/L/64, to other service sectors, including legal services. In December 2002, the WTO sent the International Bar Association (IBA) and other non-governmental organizations a "consultation letter" …

The Securities And Exchange Commission Goes Abroad To Regulate Corporate Governance, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement 2004 And The Copyright Term Extension. A Submission To The Senate Select Committee., Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Doing Business In The European Union, James George

James P. George

No abstract provided.

How Do The Social Benefits And Costs Of The Patent System Stack Up In Pharmaceuticals?, Daniel J. Gifford

ExpressO

This paper explores the workings of the patent system in the context of the generation of new pharmaceutical products. First it identifies the relevant characteristics of the patent system and its relation to the market. The paper concedes that, in general, the patent system is probably the best way of generating new technology, in substantial part because that system uses the market to provide both incentives and rewards. The paper also identifies downsides of this patent/market system: deadweight loss and the unresponsiveness of that patent/market system to the needs of the poor. The paper then explores the social costs and …

Partnerships With Monarchs: Univeiling And Re-Examining The Pattern Of "Third World" Economic Development In The Petroleum And Energy Sector, Diane M. Bales

ExpressO

No abstract provided.