International Trade Law Commons^™

Three Questions That Will Make You Rethink The U.S.-China Intellectual Property Debate, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

The debate on China's piracy and counterfeiting problems has been ongoing for more than two decades. However, in the past few years, this debate has taken on a new sense of urgency and significance. In August 2008, the City of Beijing will host the Summer Olympic Games. Two years later, the 2010 World Expo will be held in Shanghai. In addition, two World Trade Organization dispute settlement panels were recently established to resolve disputes between China and the United States over inadequate enforcement of intellectual property rights and inadequate market access to U.S. media products. All of these developments, of …

Has India Addressed Its Farmers' Woes? A Story Of Plant Protection Issues, Srividhya Ragavan, Jamie Mayer O'Shields

Faculty Scholarship

The paper examines issues relating to establishing breeders rights in developing nations by taking India as an example. At the outset, the paper examines the international obligations relating to protecting plant breeder’s rights by examining the requirements under Article 27.3 of the TRIPS agreement. In doing so, the paper examines analyzes what amounts to an effective sui generis system as required under TRIPS.

Further, the paper analyzes the constituents of the models currently touted by developed nations and outlined under the Union for Plant Variety Protection (UPOV, 1991) to determine the model’s ability to fulfill the TRIPS requirement. In determining …

The International Enclosure Movement, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Most of the recent intellectual property literature concerns the enclosure of the public domain or the one-way ratchet of intellectual property protection. While these concerns are significant and rightly placed, a different, and perhaps more important, enclosure movement is currently taking place at the international level. Instead of the public domain, this concurrent movement encloses the policy space of individual countries and requires them to adopt one-size-fits-all legal standards that ignore their local needs, national interests, technological capabilities, institutional capacities, and public health conditions. As a result of this enclosure, countries are forced to adopt inappropriate intellectual property systems, and …

The Existing Legal Infrastructure Of Brics: Where Have We Been And Where Are We Going, Robert B. Ahdieh, Zhu Lee, Srividhya Ragavan, Kevin Noonan, Clinton W. Francis

Faculty Scholarship

The focus of this panel is incrementally shifting from the previous panel. Whereas the previous was looking at public/private issues and issues relating to incentivizing innovation in the subject countries, we're going to take a focus more on, I think it's safe to say, from an external perspective looking at these countries and issues that are confronted by businesses who our either planning to deal with the four subject countries or are concerned about their technologies being used in their four subject countries.

We have four panelists, and each of them is going to speak to one of the four …

International Enclosure, The Regime Complex, And Intellectual Property Schizophrenia, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

The year 2005 marked the tenth anniversary of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Since it entered into effect on January 1, 1995, the Agreement has impacted a wide variety of areas, including agriculture, health, the environment, education, culture, competition, free speech, democracy, and the rule of law. Today, intellectual property protection has been considered a major issue in both the domestic and international policy debates, and policymakers have actively explored intellectual property issues in many different international regimes. These regimes range from public health to human rights and from biological diversity to information and communications.

As …

Mission Possible: Reciprocal Deference Between Domestic Regulatory Structures And The Wto, Elizabeth Trujillo

Faculty Scholarship

One of the goals of Article III of GATT is to invalidate domestic regulatory measures, including taxes and non-fiscal policies that amount to non-tariff barriers to trade (NTB) and therefore violate the principles of national treatment. While internal policies that directly discriminate between products based on nationality or origin are clearly in violation of national treatment principles, it is the facially neutral regulatory measures with protectionist and discriminatory effects that are more difficult to assess, even within transparent regulatory processes. However, with their emphasis on the likeness of the products in question, WTO panels run the risk of alienating member …

Shifting Paradigms Of Parochialism: Lessons For International Trade Law, Elizabeth Trujillo

Faculty Scholarship

Much of the study of international private law has focused on exploring differences in legal systems in light of domestic issues or harmonization. Much less emphasis has been on accepting these various parochial interests as part of a global legal structure. This preliminary study into what drives parochial attitudes can help international trade scholars observe the traditions engendering these differing parochial attitudes and their impact on trade. Through a pluralist lens and in borrowing from studies in the social sciences on parochialism, this paper attempts to bring to light a world of "hybrid legal spaces" that adds complexity to the …

Of Plant Variety Protection, Agricultural Subsidies, And The Wto, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines how plant protection and agricultural trade issues intersect. It begins with a historical analysis of the plant [protection regime and discusses its position alongside the WTO’s requirement of plant protection, Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. In discussing the role of global agricultural issues, especially in relation to trade and intellectual property rights, this chapters ties in issues of sustainability which is a long term goal for the trade regime.

Only One Kick At The Cat: A Contextual Rubric For Evaluating Res Judicata And Collateral Estoppel In International Commercial Arbitration, Randy D. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Arbitration is the preferred method of resolving disputes arising out of international commercial transactions. It stands outside national legal systems because contracting parties agree in advance that they want neutral arbitrators — not local judges and juries — deciding who is at fault when a commercial relationship breaks down. But arbitration nevertheless butts up against litigation from time to time, often because one party attempts to arbitrate a matter that has been litigated to conclusion or vice versa. This article examines — through a contextual approach — questions of preclusion that thereby arise and ultimately suggests that res judicata and …

From Pirates To Partners (Episode Ii): Protecting Intellectual Property In Post-Wto China, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In "From Pirates to Partners: Protecting Intellectual Property in China in the Twenty-First Century," I criticized the ineffectiveness and short-sightedness of the American foreign intellectual property policy toward China. As I argued, the coercive approach taken by the U.S. administrations created a "cycle of futility" in which China and the United States repeatedly threatened each other with trade wars, only to back down in the eleventh hour with a compromise that did not provide sustained improvements in intellectual property protection.

Since I wrote that article five years ago, China has joined the WTO and undertook a complete overhaul of its …

Of The Inequals Of The Uruguay Round, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

Ten years ago, the TRIPs Agreement set a distinct tone in international law by requiring members to prioritize international trade obligations as a means to achieve national goals. Within the next five years, the AIDS crisis highlighted that compromising pressing national responsibilities - like a looming public health crisis - to fulfill international obligations may, in fact, detrimentally affect international trade. Meanwhile, access to medication continues to be an unresolved issue even as we celebrate the tenth anniversary of TRIPs and the end of the transitional period. This Article suggests that the success of TRIPs depends on its ability to …

Trips And Its Discontents, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

The TRIPs Agreement was established at the ministerial meeting in Marrakesh in April 1994. Since its establishment, many less developed countries have become dissatisfied with the international intellectual property system. From their perspective, the system fails to take into consideration their needs, interests, and local conditions. The strong protection mandated by the Agreement also threatens their much-needed access to information, knowledge, and essential medicines.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the TRIPs Agreement. It provides an excellent opportunity to assess the Agreement's achievements and shortfalls, in particular its impact on the international community as well as on other areas …

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

Faculty Scholarship

Commentators have widely discussed the piracy and counterfeiting problems in China. Every year, the United States is estimated to lose billions of dollars due to piracy and counterfeiting in the country alone. Published as part of the U.S.-China Trade: Opportunities and Challenges Symposium, this Essay focuses on the recent debate about whether the U.S. administration should file a formal complaint against China with the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization over inadequate enforcement of intellectual property rights.

The Essay begins by articulating four reasons why the administration should not do so. It then compares the approach recently proposed …

The Trust And Distrust Of Intellectual Property Rights, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the past, intellectual property issues were considered complex, obscure, and highly technical; they were only of interest and concern to intellectual property attorneys, legal scholars, technology developers, and rightsholders. Thanks to the Internet and new communications technologies, however, intellectual property has now begun to play a more significant role in society.

In December 2003, the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in Geneva. While the conference affirmed the importance of intellectual property rights and free access to information and knowledge, the resulting Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action fail to address …

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 …

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 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 …

A "Patent" Restriction On Research & Development: Infringers Or Innovators?, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") requires developing nations to harmonize patent regimes as a means to achieve stronger industrial growth. Countries, however, need to adopt effective patent procedures in order to successfully institute a patent regime. In spite of this, international treaties like TRIPS do not properly assist developing nations in establishing appropriate procedural mechanisms capable of complimenting a sophisticated patent regime. Consequently, developing nations may embrace ineffective patent procedures that can eventually further limit industrial growth despite establishing a TRIPS compliant patent regime. The paper uses India as a case study to demonstrate the detriments …

China And The Wto: Progress, Perils, And Prospects, Peter K. Yu, Gordon G. Chang, Jerome A. Cohen, Elizabeth C. Economy, Sharon K. Hom, Adam Qi Li

Faculty Scholarship

In November 2001, member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) approved the proposal to admit China to the international trading body. After fifteen years of exhaustive negotiations, China finally became the 143rd member of the WTO on December 11, 2001. To reflect on this event, this panel brings together six China experts to explore the ramifications of China's accession to the WTO. Among the issues addressed are whether China is making progress in its compliance with the WTO requirements, whether China is suffering setbacks in the socio-economic arena, whether there are any prospects for democratic reforms and stronger human …

Can't We All Get Along? The Case For A Workable Patent Model, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The global move towards a trade regime has been impeded by challenges of poverty and health crisis for the developing nations. Until now, the developed nations have touted the establishment of a trade regime as envisaged under TRIPS as the solution for the national challenges. This paper examines the effectiveness of TRIPS as a mechanism to move towards a trade regime. It argues that the patent policy in TRIPS cannot gear the world towards patent harmonization but can potentially adversely impact the developed nations and the post-world war trade structure. The impediments affecting the effectiveness of TRIPS as a harmonizing …

Foreword: Nafta As A Lesson For Globalization, Elizabeth Trujillo

Faculty Scholarship

Since its enactment, NAFTA has impacted international business among its members and it has awakened concerns of the environmental and labor challenges that the participating countries face as they move toward economic integration. Among the many challenges, coping with the economic, legal, and cultural differences that exist among the partners has been difficult. The nations must continue to work together to harmonize their laws in such a way that allows for easier integration without impeding their sovereign power to enact laws that address local needs. At the conference entitled “NAFTA at Ten: Harmonization and Legal Transformation,” held on June 14-15, …

The Harmonization Game: What Basketball Can Teach About Intellectual Property And International Trade, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the recent World Men's Basketball Championships in Indianapolis, Team USA found out painfully that the international game is very different from what they play at home and that the gap between USA Basketball and the rest of the world has been closing. While their losses might have a significant impact on how the United States prepares for the 2004 Olympics in Athens and on how Americans train youngsters to play basketball, their teachings go beyond basketball.

The international harmonization process is a game with different rules, different officials, and players with different visions and mindsets. By watching how players …

Toward A Nonzero-Sum Approach To Resolving Global Intellectual Property Disputes: What Can We Learn From Mediators, Business Strategists, And International Relations Theorists, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Countries differ in terms of their levels of wealth, economic structures, technological capabilities, political systems, and cultural tradition. No two countries have the same needs or goals. As a result, policymakers face different political pressures and make different value judgments as to what would best promote the creation and dissemination of intellectual works in their own countries. These uncoordinated judgments eventually result in a conflicting set of intellectual property laws around the world.

As countries become increasingly interdependent in this globalized economy, these conflicting laws create tension and sometimes result in disputes. To minimize differences and prevent conflicts, countries use …

World Trade, Intellectual Property, And The Global Elites: An Introduction, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Extract:

Traditionally, intellectual property lawmaking is a matter of domestic affairs. Without external interference, governments make value judgments as to what would best promote the creation and dissemination of intellectual works in their own countries. Combined together, these disparate judgments form an intellectual property system that is tailored to the country's level of wealth, economic structure, technological capability, political system, and cultural tradition.

To protect authors and inventors, governments sometimes need to make adjustments to their intellectual property systems in exchange for better protection abroad. In those scenarios, policymakers often evaluate the adjustments carefully to make sure that they correspond …