Intellectual Property Rights as Obstacles to Legitimate Trade?

Intellectual Property Rights as Obstacles to Legitimate Trade helps to understand one of the underlying rationales of the TRIPS Agreement in light of some of the most pertinent IP issues. The WTO/TRIPS Agreement for the first time put IP rights in the context of trade rules, such as when does the exercise of IP rights become an unjustified burden to legitimate trade? Cases have arisen where IP rights are conferred, used, or enforced in a manner that arguably impedes trade, both in domestic and international contexts. This groundbreaking book is the first comprehensive assessment of this controversial area of trade law, shedding important new light on the underlying rationales of the TRIPS Agreement.

What’s in this book:

With contributions by both practitioners and academics working in a range of countries, this book considers thorny issues in such areas as the following:

interpretation of ‘obstacles to legitimate trade’ in the context of GATT/ WTO jurisprudence;
separating markets by preventing parallel importation in the context of patents;
geoblocking – territorial separation of digital markets;
using trademarks to prevent competition;
geographical indications – protection of terms that are considered generic in certain domestic markets;
seizure of goods in transit;
‘evergreening’ patents – attempts to extend the duration of patents;
rights to second-hand digital goods or content; and
unjustified threats – towards appropriate standards of liability.