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Intellectual Property Law

Selected Works

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Law

Ip Enforcement Under The Tpp: Civil And Administrative Procedures And Remedies, Provisional Measures In Tpp (Articles, 18.71-18.76), J. Janewa Osei-Tutu Jan 2019

Ip Enforcement Under The Tpp: Civil And Administrative Procedures And Remedies, Provisional Measures In Tpp (Articles, 18.71-18.76), J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

No abstract provided.

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Ip Enforcement Under The Tpp: Civil And Administrative Procedures And Remedies, Provisional Measures In Tpp (Articles 18.71–18.76), J. Janewa Osei-Tutu Jul 2018

Ip Enforcement Under The Tpp: Civil And Administrative Procedures And Remedies, Provisional Measures In Tpp (Articles 18.71–18.76), J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

No abstract provided.

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Using Intellectual Property Law To Promote Human Flourishing For “Market Women” | Section Of Intellectual Property Law.Pdf, J. Janewa Osei Tutu Mar 2018

Using Intellectual Property Law To Promote Human Flourishing For “Market Women” | Section Of Intellectual Property Law.Pdf, J. Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu


IP laws can be used as a tool for promoting human flourishing and human development if entrepreneurial women in developing countries, such as Ghana, can better use IP rights to advance and promote their enterprises. For example, while driving from Accra to Cape Coast, I observed several small stalls on the side of the road with names on them. Clearly small enterprises, the stalls had no obvious branding aside from the handwritten names of the women who appeared to be the proprietors. These women wrote their names on their stalls —Abena, Akua, and Charity—in an attempt to distinguish their enterprises …

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Socially Responsible Corporate Ip, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2017

Socially Responsible Corporate Ip, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Many companies practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) as part of their branding and public relations efforts. For example, as part of their CSR strategies, some companies adopt voluntary codes of conduct in an effort to respect human rights. This Article contemplates the application of CSR principles to trade-related intellectual property (IP). In theory, patent and copyright laws promote progress and innovation, which is why IP rights are beneficial for both IP owners and for the public. Trademark rights encourage businesses to maintain certain standards and allow consumers to make more efficient choices. Though IP rights are often discussed in relation …

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Harmonizing Cultural Ip Across Borders: Fashionable Bags & Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2016

Harmonizing Cultural Ip Across Borders: Fashionable Bags & Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Global copyright and trademark laws protect symbols, names, and literary and artistic works. However, when their primary significance is cultural, because they are neither individual original works nor symbols that are used as commercial identifiers, intellectual property laws do not protect these symbols or artistic works. This is true, even if these goods are protected under national laws as part of that nation’s cultural heritage. Once these cultural goods cross borders, there is no international law that will enable the country from which these goods originate to assert its rights in other countries. This Article characterizes these cultural goods as …

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Prioritising Human Development In African Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2015

Prioritising Human Development In African Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

The global intellectual property structure has been criticised for requiring developing nations to adopt
intellectual property standards that are appropriate for industrialised countries. Some commentators have
observed that industrialised nations, such as the United States, developed their economies by borrowing
from others, but that through the use of globalised intellectual property standards, they have effectively
limited other nations from doing the same. This article does not aim to revisit the question of the suitability
of the existing intellectual property standards for developing countries. Nor does it seek to analyse whether,
as a general proposition, intellectual property rights should be expanded …

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Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2015

Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Global intellectual property obligations shape domestic laws and policies. More
than twenty years since the first multilateral trade-based intellectual property
agreement, critics contend that global intellectual property law prioritizes intellectual
property rights over other interests, and profits over people. Faced with international
intellectual-property obligations, nations have been forced to justify laws and policies
designed to promote human development in areas such as health and education as
exceptions to intellectual property protection. This is the result of legal
interpretations that treat the objectives of intellectual property protection and human
development as inconsistent with one another. Drawing on the objectives of trade …

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Corporate "Human Rights" To Intellectual Property Protection, J. Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2014

Corporate "Human Rights" To Intellectual Property Protection, J. Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

The global intellectual property system protects the interests of intellectual property owners, sometimes to the detriment of competing interests like public health or access to knowledge. Some scholars have proposed a human rights framework for intellectual property as a way to inject balance into the current system. However, the assertion that human rights will bring balance is often coupled with the assumption that corporations are, by definition, excluded from human rights-based intellectual property claims. Yet, corporations have used, and are likely to continue to use, human rights law to ground their intellectual property claims. Since multinational corporations were a major …

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Private Rights For The Public Good?, J. Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2012

Private Rights For The Public Good?, J. Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

The counterfeit medicines discussion is an example of how the use of a turbid rationale for greater intellectual property protections serves sophisticated private interests while potentially harming the public interest. The risk of harm created by counterfeit medicines provides a compelling counter-narrative to the access to medicines critique of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property advocates and the pharmaceutical industry have portrayed poor global enforcement of intellectual property rights as contributing to the proliferation of dangerous counterfeit medications. Yet, the deliberate linkage in the literature between weak intellectual property rights and the harms caused by counterfeit medicines provides a justification for …

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Value Divergence In Global Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2011

Value Divergence In Global Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

It is a challenge for the United States to adequately protect the interests of its intellectual property industries. It is particularly difficult to effectively achieve this objective when the interests of the United States are not in line with the social, cultural, and economic goals of other nations. Yet, as a major exporter of intellectual property protected goods, the United States has an interest in negotiating effective international intellectual property agreements that are perceived to be legitimate by the state signatories and their constituents. Focusing on value divergence, this Article contributes to the growing body of literature on developing a …

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A Sui Generis Regime For Traditional Knoweldge: The Cultural Divide In Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2010

A Sui Generis Regime For Traditional Knoweldge: The Cultural Divide In Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Traditional knowledge can be protected, to some extent, under various intellectual property laws. However, for the most part, there is no effective international legal protection for this subject matter. This has led to proposals for a sui generis right for traditional knowledge. The precise contours of the right are yet to be determined, but a sui generis right could include perpetual protection. It could also result in protection for historical communal works and for knowledge that may be useful but that is not inventive according to the standards of intellectual property law. Developing countries have been more supportive of international …

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Trips And Domestic Control: Implications For Developing Countries, Janewa Osei Tutu Dec 2000

Trips And Domestic Control: Implications For Developing Countries, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

This paper examines the impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) on domestic control. The paper explains why intellectual property became part of the global trade agenda. The author considers arguments both for and against stronger global protection for intellectual property rights. Through analysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) cases on the TRIPS Agreement, the author argues that the TRIPS Agreement has effectively removed from WTO Member states control over their intellectual property regimes. The author focuses on the negative impact that a rigid application of the TRIPS Agreement is likely to have …

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