Title: Tripping up TRIPS debates IP and health in bilateral agreements

Authors: Jean-Frederic Morin

Addresses: Universite du Quebec a Montreal/Universite de Montpellier, 2001 Marie Anne Est, Montreal, Quebec, H2H 1M5, Canada

Abstract: Access to medicine is at the forefront of multilateral debates on patent law. This paper argues that bilateralism allows the USA to circumvent these debates and to set new international standards. Recently-concluded US Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) impose more stringent conditions than the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires. Although these |TRIPs-plus provisions| are not technically incompatible with the Doha Declaration on Public Health, they can be considered as additional barriers for the entry of generic medicines.

Keywords: USA; United States; bilateral; free trade agreements; FTAs; public health; TRIPS; TRIPS-plus; legal transplant; access to medicine; Doha Declaration; intellectual property management; IPM; Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; IPR; generic medicines.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2006.011021

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.37 - 53

Published online: 03 Oct 2006 *

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