This preeminent work has proven the best practical commentary on the TRIPS agreement related to patents and test data. This fifth edition, in which the author has revised the whole text and updated various arguments, continues to articulate with unmatched clarity the specific steps that a government or a company must take, in a wide variety of possible contexts, to ensure that its patent-related obligations under TRIPS are met. The presentation is arranged in an article-by-article format, following the TRIPS Agreement itself as it relates to patents and test data. In this way, the author’s incisive analysis covers every issue likely to arise in today’s patent and test data administrative and legal practice, including the following: ·significance of the recent entry into force of Article 31bis; · developments in enforcement of patent rights in the context of competition law; · the potential effects of Brexit and the new protectionist inclination of US trade policy; · expanded commentary on trade secrets and test data under Article 39; · alternate ways to transpose TRIPS obligations into national law; and · standards of intellectual property protection as a bargaining chip in international trade. The TRIPS Agreement has a direct impact on the daily activities of corporations, governments, and consumers. This book contains a very practical explanation of the meaning of the patent-related TRIPS provisions, how they should be reflected in national law, and how courts are expected to enforce them. For these reasons and more, the Fifth Edition is a crucially important resource for patent and public health lawyers seeking compliance as well as for government officials charged with the implementation of TRIPS obligations.

To varying degrees, nations worldwide are at present struggling to meet their obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).This agreement, which to a large extent supersedes all previous international conventions on intellectual property rights, promises to provide virtually global protection against fraud, piracy, and infringement for owners of patents, copyrights, trade marks, and trade secrets--provided government officials everywhere implement its requirements. It is with the intent of facilitating such compliance--focusing on patents--that this extremely practical book has been written. With the authoritative stamp of a leading international functionary in the field--formerly with the WTO and currently with the Secretariat of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)--it articulates with unmatched clarity the specific steps a government must take, in a wide variety of possible contexts, to ensure its patent-related obligations under TRIPS are met. The presentation is arranged in an article-by-article format, following the TRIPS Agreement itself as it relates to patents. It makes no attempt to discuss what the Agreement should be, but only what it is. Effective implementation and compliance is the author's sole concern. Among the complex questions the book answers in depth are the following: How does the 'no less favourable treatment' standard apply in specific situations? Where is the line drawn between most-favoured-nation treatment and national treatment? When does exhaustion occur? How is the necessity test met? The complexity of the TRIPS Agreement and its numerous links to areas that are outside intellectual property--such as the environment and public health, human rights, and non-tariff barriers to trade--make it very difficult to apprehend all the aspects and implications of the Agreement, let alone to convert all TRIPS obligations into national law. For these reasons and more, The TRIPS Regime of Patent Rights is a crucially important resource for lawyers and government officials everywhere charged with the implementation of TRIPS obligations. ' In conclusion this book can be strongly recommended for its clear exposition of the meaning of the various articles of the TRIPs Agreement and for the short and clear discussions it gives of the historical and economic background of patents and some of the controversial and topical issues concerned with public health and patents. ' David Rogers

In this brilliantly conceived and authoritative work the eminent intellectual property specialist Nuno Pires de Carvalho focuses on the mechanisms, obligations, and opportunities of trade secret protection under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). With the powerful knowledge base derived from his long experience both at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), he illuminates the crucial relationship of antitrust and industrial property, clearly demonstrating in contrast to much received wisdom the intrinsic pro-competitive nature of intellectual property and of industrial property in particular. Using an extraordinary wealth of practical detail, and offering hundreds of pointed hypothetical and actual examples, Pires de Carvalho dispels the murkiness around such essential concepts and provisions as the following: the inevitable interdependence of industrial property and antitrust law; abuses of patent rights and the vexed issue of patents and monopolies; the legal implications of international exhaustion under Article 6; the meaning of balance of rights and obligations under Article 7; divestiture and the fruits doctrine under Article 32; international cooperation in identifying antitrust violations in licensing agreements; protection of confidential information in court proceedings; protection of undisclosed test data against unfair commercial use under Article 39.3; and the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism in the context of undisclosed information. Of special value in this book is the author s far-reaching analysis of the controversial emerging field of test data protection in industrial property. The TRIPS Regime of Antitrust and Undisclosed Information provides a practical and insightful explanation of the meaning of the relevant TRIPS provisions, of how they should be reflected in national law and how courts are expected to enforce them. It combines an easy-to-follow article-by-article commentary on the TRIPS Agreement with a theoretical scholarly analysis that makes of it an invaluable resource to all those who wish to understand industrial property rights at a deeper level. Lawyers, judges, scholars and government officials will find an abundance of information and legal analysis here that will help them identify antitrust issues and solutions to problems of trade secrets posed by the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.

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.

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.

NAture of obligations, principles and objectives; Substantive obligations; Intellectual property rights and competition; Enforcemente, maintenance and acquisition of rights; Interpretation and dispute settlement and prevention; Transitional and institutional arragements.