Some Consequences of Misinterpreting the Trips Agreement

Abstract

This short article is part of the inaugural issue of the WIPO Journal. This article discusses how the TRIPS Agreement has been interpreted and misinterpreted and the consequences of that misinterpretation. The article concludes that the rules-based dispute settlement system has failed to provide proper guidance on interpretation of TRIPS that reflects the object and purpose of the Agreement. This failure has a number of consequences for the international intellectual property system and should be corrected in future decisions of the WTO dispute settlement body.

Keywords: intellectual property, TRIPS Agreement, treaty interpretation