[...]... competitors, the United States recruited Japan and the European Union to support their campaign extend the length and breadth of IP rights at the international level In order to gain ‘maximum returns’ from increasing trade in IP-related goods and services,25 they worked to add IP to the agenda of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations Developing countries opposed this effort They viewed the prospect of strengthened... licence.61 A further aspect of variation concerns the implementation of TRIPS enforcement provisions TRIPS deadlines prompted most developing countries to tighten their laws on enforcement, but the legal approaches to enforcement and the scale of resources devoted to the task varied widely.62 The task of mapping variation between countries is complicated by the fact that few countries regularly gather their... of the variation we see ought to be taken seriously as a subject of comparative analysis as the genuineness of the observed reforms may differ While each of these three approaches provides important insights into the reasons for aspects of the diversity in TRIPS implementation, none alone can account for the degree and distribution of variation The challenge at hand is to draw together and build on these... involved, and examine how their interplay contributed to variation in TRIPS implementation The second is to balance a search for general conclusions with a recognition of the complexity of global IP politics, the broad scope of TRIPS, and the diversity of the group of countries under examination This book advances the metaphor of TRIPS implementation as a complex political game Developed and developing... services Through these and other IP rights (including geographical indications, plant breeders’ rights, and utility models), governments grant inventors or creators private 5 The Implementation Game rights to use, transfer, or profit from their work for a specified period of time These rights enable IP holders to legally control (with certain conditions) the circumstances under which others can use their ‘products... intentionally left blank 1 The TRIPS Implementation Game: A Fight for Ideas The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the centrepiece of the global system of rules, institutions, and practices governing the ownership and flow of knowledge, technology, and other intellectual assets TRIPS emerged from the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement... enforcement of IP rights 10 The TRIPS Implementation Game: A Fight for Ideas at the border and within the domestic market In addition, TRIPS incorporates provisions of many earlier WIPO and bilateral agreements, extending them to a broader group of countries and linking them for the first time to an effective enforcement mechanism (the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding).51 For the most part, developed... countries from ‘going backward’ by reducing their level of IP protection Further, the links between TRIPS and the suite of other WTO agreements concluded as part of the Uruguay Round make it more difficult than ever before for developing countries to shy from their international IP commitments 1.2 Variation in TRIPS Implementation Despite their dissatisfaction with TRIPS, the Agreement spurred IP reforms across... TRIPS ignored the diversity of national needs and forced them to sacrifice the ‘policy space’11 that richer countries had harnessed in early stages of their growth Given the vocal concern expressed by developing countries during the TRIPS negotiations and after it came into force, one would reasonably expect them to have taken full advantage of the possibilities the Agreement provides to tailor implementation. .. commitment on the part of governments, particularly where countries new they faced little prospect of retaliation for non-compliance For the weakest countries especially, the argument is that some of the TRIPS implementation that occurred on paper was simply a mechanical response to international obligations rather than an indication of a real intention to make changes on the ground The implication of the ‘empty . x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" The Implementation Game This page intentionally left blank The Implementation Game The TRIPS Agreement and the Global Politics of. Cataloging in Publication Data Deere, Carolyn. The implementation game : the trips agreement, developing countries and the global politics of intellectual property