25 Years of the TRIPS Agreement: Past, Present, Future

About this book:

25 Years of the TRIPS Agreement is the comprehensive coverage of the historical background, the current situation and possible future developments of the agreement. The TRIPS Agreement was seen as embodying a new gold standard of intellectual property protection that reformed the Paris and Berne Conventions and made further IP agreements unnecessary. Since the introduction of the agreement in 1994, both the promise and the main achievement of TRIPS were eroded by the multilateral approach giving way to new bilateralism through free trade agreements which continue to pervade trends and developments in international law, not only in IP but in trade law also. This commentary focuses on the influence of all topics in IP covered by the agreement including enforcement and dispute resolution.

What’s in this book:

The editors have assembled a group of renowned IP law practitioners and academics who highlight the development of the TRIPS Agreement in the different areas of intellectual property law covered by the agreement (copyrights; trade marks; geographical indications; patents; data protection and enforcement) both in historical perspective and in their development in the last 25 years. An additional three chapters cover:

• most-favoured-nation obligations in regard of subsequent free trade agreements;
• how societal interests alter the interpretation of TRIPS obligations;
• the judicial role in the WTO panels and Appellate Body;
• minimum standards and reduction of flexibilities in IP policy;
• relationship of WTO/TRIPS with other international agreements.

How this will help you:

As intellectual property has become more pervasive in society than ever before – and as both technology related to the use of IP and the way protected works are consumed have changed beyond recognition over the past 25 years – jurists, academics, and practitioners in IP and trade law will welcome this unique opportunity to test the true scope of national sovereignty in the interpretation of intellectual property rights.