•  
  •  
 

Abstract

With the adoption of TRIPS Agreement in 1994 emerged an unprecedented international legal regime of global IP protection. Much has been talked about the fairness of this regime and almost all of such discussions conclude that the TRIPS agreement leans in the favour of the developed nations. Still, it is argued that TRIPS can be viewed as possessing certain features which make the regime set up by TRIPS being identified as a Global Public Good (GPG). The article outlines the peril faced by this GPG, in the form of the recent practice of the developed nations to negotiate higher levels of IP protection in the guise of bilateral free trade agreements known as TRIPS-Plus FTAs. Though these FTAs are compliant to the TRIPS and other WTO norms, they tend to make the common minimum standards of TRIPS irrelevant. These FTAs not only worsens the already skewed global IP protection framework but also hampers the availability of other public goods such as elimination of epidemic diseases, improvement in human health and well being which are of far much importance than the unbalanced global IP scenario. The article concludes by offering plausible solutions which could be pursued to deal with this complex issue.

Download
COinS