In The Protection Against Unfair Competition in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, Christian Riffel offers an account of the potential which Article 10bis of the Paris Convention has for the world trading system. In particular, the author explores what hard law obligations emerge and examines a possible application to unsettled issues, such as core labour standards and traditional knowledge. Article 10bis embodies unfair competition law in a nutshell. The TRIPS Agreement incorporates this Article into the World Trade Organization, thus making unfair competition law a discipline of international trade law. By providing an effective enforcement mechanism against unfair competition, the WTO upholds ‘honest practices’ in the course of trade, alleviating enforcement deficits in other areas of international law.

This handbook provides a comprehensive and non-technical explanation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), later legal instruments, current policy issues and the relationship between TRIPS and public health. It is aimed at an audience including government officials and policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, academics and students.

A comprehensive account of the establishment of the World Trade Organization, focusing on those who shaped its creation as well as those who have influenced its evolution. The book examines trade negotiations, the WTO's dispute settlement role, the presence of coalitions and groupings within the WTO, the process of joining the organization and many other topics, including what lies ahead for the organization.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the most far-reaching and comprehensive legal regime ever concluded at the multilateral level in the area of intellectual property rights (IPR). Compared to prior IPR conventions, TRIPS constitutes a major qualitative leap which radically modifies not only the context in which IPR are considered internationally, but also their substantive content and the methods for their enforcement and dispute settlement. This much-welcomed treatise, now in its third edition, thoroughly updates its comprehensive analysis of the substantive provisions of the Agreement and their actual interpretation and application in different jurisdictions, with new material on the burgeoning case law and on major changes in plant variety protection. As in previous editions, the book may be relied upon for in-depth clarification of such matters as the following: • standards established under the agreement; • enforcement measures; • social and legal issues; • legal and policy possibilities offered; • legislative latitude allowed to WTO Member States; • incorporation of TRIPS into domestic law; • protection of integrated circuit design; • protection of innovation and R&D for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries; • challenges raised by ongoing technological changes; • access to medicines; • protection of confidential (undisclosed) information; and • interface between competition law and intellectual property protection. With fifteen chapters contributed by a distinguished panel of experts representing diverse parties — international organisations, legal practice, government policy, and academia — the third edition offers an incomparable framework for understanding the background, principles, and complex provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition will be of great value to all professionals and business people concerned with international trade. It stimulates further discussion and analysis in this area of growing importance to international law and international economic relations, particularly regarding the possibilities offered by the Agreement and the loose ends that may need consideration in the future at the national or international level.

Although it is common knowledge that the compliance of developing countries with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has become a serious stumbling block in the WTO agenda, the underlying reasons why this is so have not been dispassionately analyzed until the appearance of this book. Here, for the first time, is a thorough and secure foundation on which international trade lawyers and business people can build a global intellectual property regime that is both productive and fair. The implementation of the TRIPS regime with its enormous effect on national and global strategies for healthcare, agriculture, and the environment, among other crucial sectors of the world economy is clearly among the most critical projects currently under way in the field of international relations. As a former TRIPS negotiator for India, Jayashree Watal brings great authority to her account of the benefits and pitfalls of TRIPS compliance for developing countries. She provides a detailed understanding of how TRIPS was negotiated at the Uruguay Round, how various countries have implemented it so far, and how the WTO monitors compliance. She reveals how the WTO dispute settlement process has worked to date in matters involving TRIPS, and how it is likely to deal with new issues that arise. Most importantly, she explains how developing countries can interpret TRIPS to their best advantage, and how to ensure that the `constructive ambiguity' that characterizes the agreement remains flexible.

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The TRIPS Agreement is the most comprehensive and influential international treaty on intellectual property rights. It brings intellectual property rules into the framework of the World Trade Organization, obliging all WTO Member States to meet minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. This has required massive changes in some national laws, particularly in developing countries. This volume provides a detailed legal analysis of the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as elements to consider their economic implications in different legal and socio-economic contexts. This book provides an in depth analysis of the principles and of the substantive and enforcement provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the most influential international treaty on intellectual property currently in force. It discusses the legal context in which the Agreement was negotiated, the objectives of their proponents and the nature of the obligations it created for the members of the World Trade Organization. In particular, it examines the minimum standards that must be implemented with regard to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, copyright and related rights, integrated circuits, trade-secrets and test data for pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Commentary on the TRIPS Agreement elaborates on the interpretation of provisions contained in said Agreement, in the light of the customary principles for the interpretation of international law. The analysis -which is supported by a review of the relevant GATT and WTO jurisprudence- identifies the policy space left to such members to implement their obligations in accordance with their own legal systems and public policy objectives, including in respect of complex issues such as patentability criteria, compulsory licenses, exceptions and limitations to copyright, border measures, injunctive relief and the protection of test data under the discipline of unfair competition.