Principles for Intellectual Property Provisions in Bilateral and Regional Agreements

Abstract

For several years, research at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (MPI) - in collaboration with experts from all over the world - has examined the trend of bilateral and regional agreements that include provisions on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights. By building on this research, the following principles – express core concerns regarding the use of IP provisions as a bargaining chip in international trade negotiations, the increasing comprehensiveness of international IP rules and the lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the negotiating process; and – recommend international rules and procedures that can achieve a better, mutually advantageous and balanced regulation of international IP. These principles emanate from several consultations within the MPI and especially from a workshop that was held with external experts in October 2012 in Munich, Germany. They represent the views of those first signatories and are open to signature by scholars who share the objectives of the Principles

Intellectual Property Ordering beyond Borders

“…The variable of interest was the interaction term: it should be that manufacturing industries with higher patent intensity grow faster than other industries in countries with strong patent rights. 6 This expectation was born out in the study. The coefficient of the interaction variable was positive for all periods but statistically significant only for 1991-1995 and 1996-2000.…”

“…According to estimates from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), more than 75 percent of crop genetic diversity has been lost since the widespread adoption of conventional agriculture based on a very few crop varieties. 6 Today, 75 percent of the world's food derives from only twelve plants; world nutrition is primarily based on ten crops, of which threerice, corn and wheatcontribute nearly 60 percent of the calories and proteins obtained by humans from plants. 7 1 Sanskrit proverb quoted and explained by R. Shankar, "Learning From Mistakes," 2014, www .artofliving.org/wisdom/learning-from-mistakes (last accessed May 27, 2021).…”

“…5 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The seed sector and food security (2001), www.fao.org/3/Y2722E/y2722e0d.htm (last accessed June 06, 2021). 6 FAO, "What is happening to agrobiodiversity?" (1999), www.fao.org/3/y5609e/y5609e02.htm (last accessed June 06, 2021).…”

Intellectual property and the African continental free trade area: lessons and recommendations for the IP protocol

“…177–178). Further, specific principles for IP provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements have been developed (Grosse Ruse-Khan et al , 2013), which can and must be adapted for use in the AfCFTA context.…”

Hybrid International Intellectual Property Protection

“…1:1, 7, and 8 could go beyond such established concepts in requiring a special standard of internal decision-making as a precondition for the validity of an international obligation in the area of IP rights. 27 Having said this, a number of options exist and have been recommended 28 to strengthen the legitimacy of obligations and to allow for the adaptation of commitments to new developments. Such options relate to the transparency and participation in respective negotiations and include treaty provisions such as a sunset-clause and emergency exceptions.…”