Interpreting TRIPS: Globalisation of Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicines

Protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has become a global issue. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement outlines the minimum standards for IPR protection for WTO members and offers a global regime for IPR protection. However, the benefits of TRIPS are more questionable in poorer countries where national infrastructure for research and development (R&D) and social protection are inadequate, whereas the cost of innovation is high. Today, after more than a decade of intense debate over global IPR protection, the problems remain acute, although there is also evidence of progress and cooperation. This book examines various views of the role of IPRs as incentives for innovation against the backdrop of development and the transfer of technology between globalised, knowledge-based, high technology economies. The book retraces the origins, content and interpretations of the TRIPS Agreement, including its interpretations by WTO dispute settlement organs. It also analyses sources of controversy over IPRs, examining pharmaceutical industry strategies of emerging countries with different IPR policies. The continuing international debate over IPRs is examined in depth, as are TRIPS rules and the controversy about implementing the 'flexibilities' of the Agreement in the light of national policy objectives. The author concludes that for governments in developing countries, as well as for their business and scientific communities, a great deal depends on domestic policy objectives and their implementation. IPR protection should be supporting domestic policies for innovation and investment. This, in turn requires a re-casting of the debate about TRIPS, to place cooperation in global and efficient R&D at the heart of concerns over IPR protection.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I Background 1 Innovation Incentives 2 International IP Cooperation and Developing Country Perspectives 3 Biotech Inventions and Patentable Subject Matter Part II The TRIPS Agreement 4 Uruguay Round Negotiations and the Adoption of TRIPS 5 The TRIPS Agreement de Lege Lata: the Outline 6 Various Methods of Interpretation: WTO Agreements and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 7 TRIPS Provisions as Interpreted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Organs Part III Access to Medicines 8 T he AIDS Epidemic and TRIPS 9 Doha Declaration and Beyond Part IV IP and Industrial Policies 10 Emerging Economies' IP and Industrial Policies 11 Pharmaceutical Industries, R&D and Public Health in Emerging Economies 388 Part V TRIPS Flexibilities and National Implementation 12 TRIPS Flexibilities and National Implementation (1) Patentable Subject Matter and Patentability Requirements 13 TRIPS Flexibilities and National Implementation (2) Protection of Test Data Submitted to Regulatory Authorities 14 'TRIPS Plus' Provisions in US Free Trade Agreements Part VI Interpreting TRIPS for Innovation 15 Recasting the Debate on Intellectual Property Rights

About the Author :
Hiroko Yamane is a Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo. She teaches International Economic Law, Competition and Intellectual Property. She was a member of the Commission on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH, 2003-06) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Review :
The strength of Interpreting TRIPS is that it provides a map to the global archipelago of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). ...Interpreting TRIPS provides a major contribution to world-class thinking in the field and the legal scholar is engaged by the book at multiple levels. The reader will acquire a thorough understanding of TRIPS critical to understanding the relevant policy debates when negotiating international cooperation... despite the doom and gloom surrounding the topic of poverty and access to medicines, Professor Yamane's international approach and optimism to interpreting TRIPS illuminates and informs as to the various attitudes and continuing international deliberations in various jurisdictions over intellectual property laws. She does a tremendous job in making the impact of TRIPS a much less daunting subject. -- Janice Denoncourt Intellectual Property Law and Practice Although readers may differ as to the degree to which they are persuaded by the author's thesis, they will value her book for the intellectual examination of the relationship between patent protections and access to medicines, and the incorporation of industrial policies to achieve innovation excellence. Reader's will appreciate Yamane's scholarship for highlighting the way in which IPRs can provide a foundation for building local efficiency models in pharmaceutical innovation for public welfare -- Thaddeus Manu Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, Volume 2, Number 1 The readers of all backgrounds will be impressed with the comprehensiveness of her approach and the accuracy of her data, which may lead them to re-examine their own views on the issue of intellectual property protection. -- Junji Nakagawa Trade Journal, Tokyo, This is a complex book which addresses many issues apposite to the access to medicines from world agreements and organizations such as TRIPS and dispute settlements by the WTO. It has been very well researched and provides much food for thought for both those involved in institutional policy making and local people in need of easy access to medicines. -- Ruth Taplin Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics and Business Law, Volume 3, Issue 3