Intellectual Property and International Trade

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), which concluded within the framework of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, is one of the most far-reaching and comprehensive legal regimes ever concluded at the multilateral level in the area of intellectual property rights. It supplements and modifies the earlier conventions governing intellectual property rights, which were periodically revised to promote the quasi-uniform regulation of industrial property and copyright in a gradual and incremental manner. In comparison, the TRIPS Agreement constitutes a major qualitative leap which radically modifies not only the context in which intellectual property rights are considered internationally, but also their substantive content and the methods for enforcement of these rights and dispute settlement. In ten chapters, contributed by a distinguished panel of experts, this work offers a framework for understanding the background, principles and complex provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. It highlights the context in which it was elaborated and adopted, and the manner in which it is to be interpreted and applied.