World policy battles on pharmaceutical patent protection : micro-history of a forum shift and its legal implications Articles uri icon

publication date

  • March 2013

start page

  • 217

end page

  • 228

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 5

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1989-4570

abstract

  • The internationalization of intellectual property protection was subject to a historical forum shift from WIPO to WTO in the 90s under the pressure of technology-exporting countries and their IP constituencies: the TRIPs agreement was its product. However, the agreement was designed to ratchet up global IP standards under a narrow regulatory structure based on mere phase-ins, and without considering social realities such as the eventual lack of pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in many developing countries (article 31.f). As a result, technology-exporting and technology-importing countries are immersed in a tense ongoing re-regulatory process aiming to secure TRIPS inner "flexibilities", under the banner of access to affordable medicines in the developing world. http://e-revistas.uc3m.es/index.php/CDT/article/view/1719/794

keywords

  • regulación; propiedad intelectual; flexibilidades; patentes farmaceúticas; acceso a medicamentos; genéricos; comercio; regulation; intellectual property; flexibilities; pharmaceutical patents; access to medicines; generics; trade