From Punta Del Este to Doha and Beyond: Lessons from the TRIPS Negotiating Processes

Abstract

This paper seeks to review the results of TRIPS (the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) negotiating processes and to evaluate the degree of success achieved by different parties. It uses an objective measure of the success or failure of negotiating strategies, namely the proportion of the original known negotiating positions or objectives achieved in the final output. It takes into account the influence of spatially and chronologically dispersed events both inside and outside the negotiating contexts. This paper does not, however, attempt to describe the full content of the negotiated changes in international IP law, nor explain their meaning or interpretation or judge their importance.

Keywords: TRIPS, negotiations, negotiating strategies, public health, access to medicines, Doha Declaration, Paragraph 6