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The Dog that Barked but Didn’t Bite: 15 Years of Intellectual Property Disputes at the WTO

2010; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

10.2139/ssrn.1708026

1556-5068

Joost Pauwelyn,

Human Rights and Development

Hope as well as fear was running wild when in 1995 the multilateral trading system incorporated the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. As one author put it, “the [IP] component of the WTO [World Trade Organization] Agreement represented a revolution in international intellectual property law.” This article provides a reality check 15 years after the fact with a particular focus on how the WTO performed in terms of settling IP disputes under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It compares conventional expectations associated with the creation of TRIPS and WTO dispute settlement to (i) the number and types of TRIPS disputes actually filed and decided, (ii) institutional and substantive decisions and interpretations reached by WTO panels and the Appellate Body in their application of the TRIPS agreement and, finally, (iii) the status of implementation of adverse WTO rulings under TRIPS.