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2 J. World Intell. Prop. 853 (1999)
Intellectual Property Rights and Developing Countries in the WTO Millennium Round

handle is hein.journals/jwip2 and id is 844 raw text is: Intellectual Property Rights and Developing Countries in the WTO Millennium Round Esperanza DURAN* and Constantine MICHALOPOULOS* I. INTRODUCTION The inclusion of the topic of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the multilateral trade negotiations of the Uruguay Round involved a long-fought battle between developed and developing countries, and the negotiations themselves had a clear North-South dimension. The developed countries, firm supporters of promoting effective protection of IPRs, sought to increase the standards of IPR protection as a means to oppose trade in counterfeit goods and to extend the rights of their producers and exporters world-wide. They argued that the benefits of an increased level of IPR protection would accrue to developing countries as well, since it would strengthen their own incentives for research and development (R&D), help promote foreign direct investment, and encourage the transfer and dissemination of technology. Most developing countries saw little benefit in committing themselves to abide by basic global standards for increased IPR protection, which would be better suited to protect developed country interests, but might be inappropriate for their own socio-economic and technological needs. Given this background, it is not surprising that the conclusion of an Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has been one of the most controversial results of the Uruguay Round for developing countries. Concerns about the TRIPS Agreement have focused not only on the equitable distribution of benefits that accrue to developed and developing countries, but even more fundamentally on whether the Agreement would actually result in net outright losses for many, if not most, developing countries (Deardorff, 1990; South Centre, 1997; Third World Network, 1998). Some elements of the Agreement will be reviewed in 1999 as part of the World Trade Organization's (WTo) built-in Agenda. Moreover, the Agreement provides that the Council for TRIPS review its implementation after the expiration in the year 2000 of the transitional period allowed for developing countries under Article 65.2, and every two years thereafter. Although not foreseen at the time the Agreement was drafted, it is * Director, Agency for International Trade Infornation and Co-operation (AITIC), Geneva, Switzerland. ** Senior Economic Advisor, World Bank, Brussels, Belgium. The views presented in this article are the responsibility of the authors and should not be taken as those of either the AITIC or the World Bank.