INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND COMPETITION LAW: Exploring Some Issues Of Relevance In The Light Of Trips (original) (raw)

Twenty-five years since TRIPS: Patent policy and international business

Journal of International Business Policy, 2020

In this introduction to the special issue, we take stock of the impact of the TRIPS agreement on international business in the hyper-globalised world of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. We begin by providing a brief background on TRIPS, putting it in the historical context of international agreements on intellectual property (IP) and then looking at the logic of national patent policies, examining how policies may vary across countries, in theory, and reviewing literature that discusses the factors driving historical variation, in practice. We review the key issues in the domestic politics of implementation as the new rules migrate from the international to national levels. Lastly, we consider the implications of TRIPS for the governance of innovations in industries based on ICT and where ICT has enabled global value chains (GVCs), where the speed and distributed nature of innovation makes IPR simultaneously less effective and more necessary.

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) 1994

2012

TRIPS Agreement acknowledged that some licensing restrictions contained in a patent license contract may contravene the principles of competition law. Hence, adoption of appropriate measures to address issues concerning patent license which relates with competition law has been expressly provided by the TRIPS Agreement in its various provisions. Malaysia as a signatory of the TRIPS Agreement is expected to comply with the recommendations in addressing issues concerning patent license and competition law. Therefore, it is the purpose of this article to identify extends of compliance by Malaysia with respect to the suggestions provided by the TRIPS Agreement. The result shows that Malaysia adopts the recommendations provided by the TRIPS Agreement in its legislation, particularly the Patents Act 1983. Contribution/ Originality: This study contributes in the existing literature on patent and competition law as a result of a new law introduced by the Malaysian government known as the Competition Act 2010 and the recent Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) Guidelines on Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law.

Factors contributing to the strength of national patent protection and enforcement after TRIPS

Transnational Corporations

In this paper we study the determinants of the strength of patent enforcement in 43 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) between 1998 and 2011, a period after the signing of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. We do so by building on and expanding the seminal work of Ginarte and Park (1997) on the pre-TRIPS determinants of patent rights in the years 1960-1990. We find that in the years after TRIPS was signed, the strength of patent enforcement of a country is positively determined by two variables that signify the usage of the patent and intellectual property system, the number of patent and trademark applications. We also find that the level of research and development expenditure, the quality of human capital, and the level of development of a country have positive effects on the strength of the enforcement of patent law in practice. Intellectual property rights enforcement is one of the key investment-related policies included in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. Identifying the determinants of strong patent systems will help policymakers at the national and supranational levels to design and implement effective policies that strengthen national patent systems, thereby enhancing economic benefits such as greater levels of commercialization of intangible assets and greater levels of international trade and investment.

Trade and the Globalisation of Patent Rights

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

This paper examines the role of patent policy in the open economy. It begins by considering how the presence of patents affects trade in patentable products. A brief review of the general argument for patent protection is followed by consideration of the elements that comprise a patent system, and which determine "patent strength". Attention is then given to how the existence of the global market influences countries' choices of patent system. It is noted that the way patents are applied tends to push countries towards extreme choices, which may partly explain the pressure for some degree of international harmonisation that led to the minimum standards specified in the TRIPs Agreement. But even with these minimum standards, countries retain discretion over important aspects of their patent systems.

Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS and Innovation

The relationship between Intellectual property rights (IPRs) and innovation in a north south framework has been a much discussed topic over the past few years. This paper adds to this research area by looking at how the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement implemented by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has affected the relationship between IPRs and innovation ever since its implementation in 1994. Empirical analysis, involving a panel data of 84 countries shows that the TRIPS agreement has a significant effect on the effectiveness of IPRs influence on innovation. We also obtained an interesting result exhibiting a negative impact of IPRs on innovation.