Case Studies in US Trade Negotiation, Vol. 1, Preview Chapter 3
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3 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Making Trade Policy The inclusion of intellectual property rules in the international trading system was a watershed event. Negotiated during the Uruguay Round, the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) significantly broadened the reach of the trading regime. Prior to TRIPS, trade rules generally focused on “don’ts”—telling coun- tries which practices to avoid or scale back. For example, General Agree- ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) members were told to eliminate quo- tas, to reduce tariffs, to avoid discriminating among GATT members (by mandating most favored nation, or MFN, status) and against foreign goods (by mandating national treatment), and, finally, to avoid standards and technical requirements that unnecessarily restricted trade. Provided that countries respected these don’ts, they remained free to adopt or reject any domestic policies they wished. For example, many countries chose not to enforce intellectual property rights—a perfectly acceptable policy under the GATT system. 37 International Trade Meets Intellectual Property: The Making of the TRIPS Agreement and International Trade Meets Public Health—Patent Rules and Access to Medicines are edited and revised versions of the cases with the same names originally written for the Case Program at the Kennedy School of Government. For copies or permission to reproduce the unabridged cases please refer to www.ksgcase.harvard.edu or send a written request to Case Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Institute for International Economics | www.iie.com
