Intellectual Property Treaties and Development

Abstract

The WTO and WIPO have in the first 10 years of this century seemed like less favorable venues for increasing IP standards and enforcement. This resulted in a shift of focus by a number of industrialized countries, which still wanted to achieve higher standards but in bilateral and regional free trade negotiations (“FTAs”), covering trade and investment issues. There was also an accompanying increase in bilateral investment treaty (“BIT”) activity. Many developing countries signed BITs and FTAs but the number of these has already begun to decline significantly. This does not necessarily mean a return to multilateral fora but suggests that new plurilateral fora, such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and the current Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations (TPP) probably represent the next forum shift. This chapter explores the flourishing of bilateralism and plurilateralism against the backdrop of the remaining controversies, flexibilities, and loose ends of the TRIPS Agreement. We look at the ways in which competing narratives about the relationship between innovation, economic development and greater intellectual property protection have both pushed and pulled against the pursuit of bilateralism and plurilateralism in the post-TRIPS era.

Keywords: Development, ACTA, bilateral free trade agreements, FTAs, intellectual Property, development agenda