TRIPs

Copyright, patents and trademarks are well-known types of Intellectual Property (IP). However, there is another form of IP known as Geographical Indications (GIs). Foods, drinks and agricultural products can be certified as GIs. The quality of each GI is considered to exclusively or significantly derive from the
supposedly unique physical attributes of the defined and bounded locations from which they originate. The use of GIs discriminates between producers who are categorised as in-place or out-of-place. This determines the firms that are permitted to invoke economically valuable geographical names. Producers
of GIs rely on notions of place, boundaries and terroir to validate their claims to GI status. These are intrinsically geographical factors with which our discipline has long engaged. However, the GI system itself has rarely been studied from a geographical perspective. This paper interrogates the constructions of place, boundaries and terroir common to the conceptual infrastructure of all GIs. It employs Stilton Cheese – one of Britain’s most iconic territorial foods – to illustrate these ideas. The Stilton case also
shows that taken-for-granted ideas of place and production methods can be challenged by motivated adversaries who introduce new evidence in their quest to destabilise this GI. The overall aim of this work is to draw attention to the geographical infrastructure of this expanding regulatory system and more fully
reveal the interests served by the GI model.

This chapter assesses the future trends and trajectory of the optical media piracy. Media piracy is an evolving cybercrime which can easily adapt to the current technological and global environment. It traces briefly the development of media piracy from the VCR technology using the cassette format to the current digital and nanotechnology using the Internet and file sharing protocols. Optical disc piracy will be a transitory phenomenon in developing countries with underdeveloped IP and Internet culture. As the country increases in Internet penetration, the locus of media piracy shifts from the temporal space of the sidewalk stalls selling pirated DVDs or illegal CD–DVD shops to the cyberspace of the Internet. The use of discs becomes less popular as media piracy becomes more convenient, easier, and cheaper with direct illegal downloading, peer-to-peer sharing, and other evasive techniques using the latest sophisticated hardware and software technologies. This chapter then examines some popular and current online digital piracy such as peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, cyberlocker, media box, anti-circumvention technology, digital spying and hacking, and other Internet piracy supported by digital, cloud, and nanotechnology. It also makes projections on media piracy look like with the advent of quantum computing and technology. Media piracy follows technological advancement and innovation, thus making it difficult for authorities to curb as it uses the same technology used by copyright holders which provides them with a variety of options to respond to regulation. Finally, this chapter examines the difficulty of regulating the Internet and the role and future involvement of China in counterfeiting and media piracy. With the rise of online media piracy, regulating the Internet would then be the main challenge of law enforcement and copyright owners as regulating the Internet to curb piracy would not be easy with legality and illegality becoming more intimately connected with the growing sophistication of technology and conflicting business interests between service providers and content providers and between copyright industries and top IT and ICT.

In this paper, I will present a theoretical and empirical analysis of the 2007 IPR controversy between the US and China.  With a comprehension of international trade, the goal of this paper is to understand the root causes underpinning the dispute for the two countries in question.  In doing so, I hope to present a better conceptualization of the dispute and to provide room for extrapolation on the implications of the WTO’s ruling.

The use of tobacco entails negative health consequences. In fact, it is reported that had the ill effects of tobacco been known much earlier in time, tobacco would have been a banned substance. Yet, in today's context tobacco has become part of legitimate trade, and the livelihoods in countries that export tobacco heavily depend on trade in tobacco. In the circumstances, could governments intervene on health and public policy grounds and regulate the manner in which tobacco products are marketed and sold? If so, to what extent? These are precisely the questions that fuel the gruelling dual between tobacco companies and health conscious countries, such as Australia that has recently enacted legislation making mandatory the plain packaging of tobacco products from December 2012. The Australian legislative measure, namely the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 (Cth), is currently under attack in several fronts, including the World Trade Organisation, though recently the Australian High Court upheld the constitutionality of the plain packaging legislation. The purpose of this paper is to approach the question of the legality of government intervention in totally prohibiting the striking elements of tobacco packaging from a purely international trademark law point of view. First, the paper identifies the scope of trademark protection as set out in the Agreement on the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPs”) and then goes on to analyse the Australian plain packaging law in the context of its own trademark legislation. Thence, the paper considers whether the Australian plain packaging legislation complies with the core provisions on trademark protection enshrined in TRIPs, and lastly provides a possible compromise to reconcile the competing interests.

A non-cultural sustainable development policy contains a cultural policy that adheres to the hegemonic model of neo modernization.That is, the desire to make as much money as possible in the shortest possible time and, of course, without caring about its impact or other side effects. This also seems to be the attitude towards culture. Agenda 21 for Development is first and foremost a question that may be put as follows: ‘Is another model (of cultural policies) possible? In Suriname not only, the indigenous people are considered to have knowledge in their heritage (traditional knowledge) because the other ethnic groups also have knowledge that is part of their cultural heritage. Protection of the unique cacophony of cultural heritage of Suriname is important starting with indigenous people. The conflicts surrounding traditional knowledge resonate in the social reality of Suriname. The current legal framework does not adequately protect tradesional knowledge. There are no compulsory legal provisions for meaningful participation or consultation in decisions affecting indigenous peoples, nor is their right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) recognized. The legislation process in Suriname is rather slow. There is a limited awareness in general on indigenous people rights in Suriname, including by lawmakers. Although there is a general recognition that there are such rights, there is limited clarity what exactly those are, if and how they should be recognized legally, and how this would affect other rights such as the rights of concession holders, individual ownership rights, and rights of other etnic communities. This limited awareness, combined with long-held prejudices and discrimination against indigenous make this topic a difficult one to discuss in a constructive and structured manner. There is a persistent top-down governance attitude in Suriname, where the government and its officials often act as the know-betters towards indigenous communities and development isseus.Such attitudes again make it difficult to have constructive and meaningful discussions over topics such as community governance over territories, areas and resources. Policy reforms (should) go hand-in-hand with legal reforms,  legal reforms would obviously also need to be reflected in policy reforms and the other way around. The thesis consists of a socio-legal literature study and a norm ative framework. The conclusion can be drawn that Suriname has to create a national dialog on traditional knowledge and identity. The goals of this national dialog can be formulated as followed: 1. The Surinamese government has to establish a clear workable process to develop the laws and administrative measures and need to comply with its legal obligations and to maintain continued dialogue between the government of Suriname and its citizens.  2. The government need to create a long-term sustainable development policy plan that takes into consideration conservation of biodiversity, protection of traditional knowledge and justice for all. In this sense, development is at the heart of the culture debate. If one views culture as more than just the preservation and promotion of the arts, heritage and cultural identities, then we have to include the broad civilization concept embodied in culture as a whole way of life. That s why this thesis promotes the usage of cultural development as a fourth pillar.

Recent reports published in Sri Lankan newspapers suggest that local industries (particularly cinnamon producers) have raised concerns about the lack of a registration system for geographical indications (GIs) in Sri Lanka. They have even gone on to suggest that the failure on the part of Sri Lankan authorities and stakeholders to obtain protection of Sri Lankan GIs in other jurisdictions (and in particular the EU) is attributable to the lack of a domestic mechanism for the registration of GIs. Both local industries and academics have made reference to the Indian approach on the registration and protection of GIs and have called for the implementation of a similar system in Sri Lanka. It was in order to address this specific concern and plea that the Cabinet of Ministers by a decision made in October 2016 pledged to amend the Intellectual Property Act 2003 (IP Act), which governs the
protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Sri Lanka. Yet, contrary to expectations and adopting an approach that is much less comprehensive than the existing legislative approach in India, the proposed amendment to the IP Act merely
introduces a single subsection to s.161 that deals with the protection of GIs. Against this backdrop, this article deals with the following points. First, it considers whether the current regime for the protection of GIs in Sri Lanka is sufficient in order to obtain
the necessary legal protection for Sri Lankan GIs both locally and globally. Secondly, the article critically assesses the new amendment to the IP Act, comparing it with the Indian approach, in considering its practicality and utility. It is argued that the new amendment adds nothing to existing law.

A country’s patent system plays a significant role in the progress it makes in relation to technological innovations. Yet, from a developing country’s perspective it is necessary to ensure that the grant of patent rights promotes local interests, and in particular the transfer of technology to foster domestic industries and promote local innovations.  However, where the grant of a patent results in the patented product being solely imported into the territory of a country in which patent rights subsist, there is little benefit for the patent granting country. It is for this reason that the incorporation of a local working requirement–compelling the local manufacture of a patented product–for the grant and maintenance of patent rights could be beneficial to a patent granting country. Yet adopting such an approach to formulate domestic patent legislation is not without controversy. Although Article 5A(2) of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883 (Paris Convention) provides that a compulsory license may be issued where there is a failure to work a patent, the Paris Convention permitting the term ‘working’ to be defined as requiring local manufacture of a patented product, Article 27:1 of the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) provides that patent rights must be made available without discrimination as to the place where a patented product is produced. This chapter explores the tension between Article 27:1 of TRIPS and Article 5A(2) of the Paris Convention and suggests how TRIPS flexibilities may be used in favour of imposing a local working requirement under domestic patent law, while also considering the approaches adopted in relation to local working requirements in two South Asian jurisdictions–namely, India and Sri Lanka.

The Jungian analyst Ann Shulgin, wife of the chemist Sasha Shulgin, discoverer of the psychoactive qualities of MDMA, talks of her psychotherapeutic practice of using MDMA to facilitate the first step of C.G. Jung individuation process, the meeting with the Shadow.

Plain packaging is the WHO’s new concept to fight the global tobacco epidemic.
Already adopted in Australia, other countries are certain to follow and are already evaluating its introduction. However, plain packaging is not as carefree and unproblematic as the WHO considers it to be. The idea of dictating to tobacco producers the way they must present their product provokes heavy protest on political and legal levels. This article analyses the compatibility of plain packaging with WTO-law.

Competing Sovereignties provides a critique of the concept of sovereignty in modernity in light of claims to determine the content of law at the international, national and local levels. In an argument that is illustrated through an analysis of debates over the control of intellectual property law in India, the book considers how economic globalization and the claims of indigenous communities do not just challenge national sovereignty - as if national sovereignty is the only kind of sovereignty - but in fact invite us to challenge our conception of what sovereignty ‘is’. Combining theoretical research and reflection with an analysis of the legal, institutional and political context in which sovereignties 'compete', the book offers a reconception of modern sovereignty - and, with it, a new appreciation of the complex issues surrounding the relationship between international organisations, nation states and local and indigenous communities.

The argument put forth by proponents of pharmaceutical patents lies on the basis of providing the necessary protection to the research conducted and subsequent result to provide security of investment to those entities who may be interested in acquiring these patents to monetize them and get a return on their investment. This is the primary rationale for IP law, to provide incentive for innovation. Yet, pharmaceuticals is tricky, in the way that it is a more vital industry for the welfare and health of a nation and the whole world at large. Thereby, the controversy arises when medical patents are used to create a monopoly and thus charging monopoly prices. We will elaborate on this.

Bilateral and regional trade deals frequently include patent provisions that go beyond the minimum requirement of the multilateral Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). They extend the scope of patentability and provide additional rights to patent holders. This paper systematically maps these “TRIPS-plus” agreements. Exploiting a new data set, 52 TRIPS-plus agreements are found to have been concluded between 1990 and 2017. The major proponents of these TRIPS-plus agreements on patents are the United States, followed by the European Union and the European Free Trade Association. Other technology-rich countries, such as Japan and Korea, have surprisingly few TRIPSplus provisions on patent protection in their trade agreements. Few South-South trade agreements include TRIPS-plus provisions, but some include TRIPS-extra provisions on genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Having a clear picture of these TRIPS-plus agreements is essential as they can have important social and economic consequences, including for the development of innovations and access to technologies.

British pie aficionados associate the town of Melton Mowbray with the production of pork pies of exceptional quality. The “Melton Mowbray” name became a Geographical Indication (GI) in 2009. However, the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association (MMPPA), formed to obtain GI status, was founded as long ago as 1998. This paper uses the Melton Mowbray case to explore the GI model that operates in the European Union (EU). Articles 22, 23 and 24 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement are actualised through the national legislation of each World Trade Organization (WTO) member. This occurred in the EU at the time of the Melton Mowbray example via Regulation 2081/92. The paper draws upon material gleaned from interviews with the Melton Mowbray producers and Chairman of the MMPPA which are supplemented by transcripts of the legal conflict which pitted the MMPPA against a powerful rival manufacturer. The MMPPA argued that its adversary was too distant from Melton Mowbray and that it applied inauthentic methods of production. The out-of-place producer, in response, claimed that the “Melton Mowbray” name was generic and hence ineligible for GI protection. This detailed study of one of Britain’s most iconic regional foods investigates the conceptual and legal infrastructure that is common to all GIs. It provides an in-depth analysis of the constructions of place, boundaries and tradition that are deployed to generate GIs and legitimise the system. Moreover, this work demonstrates that the intricacies and nuances of the GI model can result in differing interpretations of these notions and thus lead to legal challenges from aggrieved producers.

(SPANISH) Part TWO, contains a secondary sources review, as part of field work preliminary research. The theoretical framework, the focal orientation, as well as  the characterizations of characters, situations, ceremonies and places, plus hypothetical routes and the research and artistic experimentation conclusions. The project remains open, conclusions are partial and presented as impressions besides possible transcendental art research and experimental developments.
ABSTRACT
“Oklahoma – Nararachi, peyote road landscapes” puts together  science and art knowledge, this thesis work deals with images and words, memory and identity, travel and trance to build landscapes. Traveling by car, on the road,  trip starts in Oklahoma, goes on through Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico, crossing the border towards Chihuahua, to finish at the Sierra Tarahumara. It is an artistic exploration and research work conducted as a work in progress, following the contemporary Cheyenne poet Lance Henson.
This work provides a crossing of glances crossing photography (Cabanzo Francisco, visual artist), documentary film (Federico Lanchares, documentarist) and poetry languages (Lance Henson, poet and writer, Sundance ceremonial dancer, Dogsoldier clan member, trip guide).
The second part is composed by a set of secondary informations that help to achieve the conceptual and methodological background research that was made by Francisco Cabanzo as a visual artist in order to achive the necessary information to develop a parallel work: first as the documentary research and direction assistant for director F. Lanchares following poet Lance Henson. An to help develop the work as a visual artist do build several video-art (sequencies) and photographic documentation (backstage) of "oklahoma-nararachi peyote road landscapes" trip."

Across sub-Saharan Africa, the promise of ‘informational development’ is proclaimed. The global governance of intellectual property rights (IPRs), however, currently structured through the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement and overseen by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), makes much software expensive to deploy. There is an alternative: open-source and/or free software ameliorates many of the cost problems countries in Africa have anticipated as they have changed their laws to protect IPRs; using non-proprietary software will enable them to deploy extensive computerisation without making large payments to suppliers from the developed countries. By escaping the TRIPs’ trap, many Africans will be better able to enjoy the potential benefits of ‘informational development’.

This chapter sketches future scenarios of TRIPS implementation in developing countries by looking at past experience, current trends and by comparing historical and crosscountry patterns. The chapter focuses on the three largest emerging economies-Brazil, India and China (BICs), since they are those with the highest potential to shape the intellectual property regime. Through international contestation, domestic implementation and even novel rule-making, they have been able to ensure that some flexibilities in the implementation of TRIPS remain. Their domestic policies and coalition-building efforts have been followed by many other developing countries. Shifts in the political economies of Brazil and India towards 2025 due to increased patenting and rise in innovation could mean that they will calibrate or even drop their opposition to TRIPS. China will likely be an innovation giant by then and eager to join the club of proponents of strong and enforceable intellectual property (IP) rights. In the area of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge (ABS), the BICs are likely to remain opposed to stringent IP, and could even become active rule-makers. A degree of homologation between the TRIPS and the Nagoya Protocol, which has codified ABS, appears likely. In general, access to health, as one of the typically contentious domains of IP law and policy, is likely to remain a hotly debated issue. Challenges to pharmaceutical patents by developing countries that use TRIPS flexibilities will continue, as will the efforts by industrialized countries to constrain the available flexibilities through bilateral and regional trade agreements. Overall, the domain of IP law and policy is likely to remain complex and dynamic, with different interests colliding. This may reduce the chances of new multilateral law-making-for instance in the area of substantive patent law, while increasing the chances of new rule-making through domestic practice by BICs in the shadow of the TRIPS.

The global intellectual property (IP) regime is in the midst of a paradigm shift in favor of greater access to protected work. Current explanations of this paradigm shift emphasize the agency of transnational advocacy networks, but ignore the role of academics. Scholars interested by global IP politics have failed to engage in reflexive thinking. Building on the results from a survey of 1,679 IP experts, this article argues that a community of academics successfully broke the policy monopoly of practitioners over IP expertise. They instilled some skepticism concerning the social and economic impacts of IP among their students as well as in the broader community of IP experts. They also provided expert knowledge that was widely amplified by NGOs and some intergovernmental organizations, acting as echo chambers to reach national decision makers. By making these claims, this article illustrates how epistemic communities actively collaborate with other transnational networks rather than competing with them, and how they can promote a paradigm change by generating rather than reducing uncertainty.

This chapter deals with the international protection and promotion of indigenous traditional knowledge (TK) associated with agriculture, with a special focus on biodiversity-related knowledge. Interest in this knowledge has intensified greatly over the past two decades, along with a growing awareness of the contribution it can make, in a time of climate and environmental change, towards developing more sustainable models of agriculture and contrasting the erosion of both
biodiversity and cultural diversity. The chapter analyzes the international legal framework for TK protection, as well as current international efforts to develop sui generis protection systems that are culturally more appropriate and capable of valorizing the collective and intergenerational nature of TK. In this context, the protection of indigenous TK is put against the backdrop of the protection of TK hold by rural communities of peasants, shepherds, and fishermen. The chapter finally investigates the role of intellectual property in preserving indigenous peoples’ TK and promoting their economic empowerment. More precisely, attention is paid to the question as to whether TK falls within the boundaries of
protected property under international human rights law.

Reducing cross-border dissonance of intellectual property laws has shifted decisively to international investment agreements (IIAs). Substantive provisions which mirror IP text found in multilateral trade agreements appear in the United States-Rwanda Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), and the Japan-China-Korea Trilateral Investment Treaty. These mark a paradigm shift away from provisions that simply define IP as a covered investment to be protected, in line with national law. Instead, these devices open host states to transplant-harmonization of international IP norms which go beyond the scope of national law. In September 2013 pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly filed a notice of arbitration under NAFTA chapter 11 against the government of Canada for the invalidation of previously issued patents for Strattera and Zyprexa. This followed earlier investment arbitration claims launched by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris in 2010 and 2011, against Uruguay and Australia respectively, citing public health legislation which restricted the company’s use of its lawfully acquired trademarks.These investment claims are founded on intellectual property (IP) provisions in international investment agreements (IIAs), which include IP as a
covered investment. The Eli Lilly and Philip Morris claims have exposed pre-existing tensions arising from standard IIA clauses which protect IP as a covered investment; as well as newer provisions that incorporate
regulatory language from the agreement on trade related aspects of IP (TRIPS).IP has benefitted from international investment protection for as long as IIAs have existed, but enforcement and dispute settlement
have always taken place at the national level. The willingness to deploy investment treaty based provisions to enforce IPRs in arbitral proceedings is the result of a broader investment driven, bilateral shift in
the approach to IP regulation and dispute settlement. The addition of IIAs to the list of international regulatory tools available for IP protection and enforcement presents a new dilemma for the delicate IP policy bargain struck by the TRIPS agreement.

Page 1. Access to Knowledge in South Africa Part of the Access to Knowledge Research Series Edited by Andrew Rens & Rebecca Kahn Published by The Intellectual Property Law Research Unit, University of Cape Town, in collaboration with the Information Society Project at Yale Law School This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa Licence.

The term ‘Method Champenois’ connects champagne to its rich history, geographical location and image. Few words evoke luxury and good cheer as much as champagne. Behind the bubbles is an international trade rivalry between the EU and the US to control the lucrative champagne market.

The battle lines concern champagne’s recognition as a 'geographical indication'; a type of intellectual property cited primarily in the Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. The conflict is hotly contested. The EU claims the label champagne must only be used for sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region in France. The US counterclaims that champagne is a generic word describing the type of sparkling wine.