Engelbrekt, Antonina Bakardjieva --- "The WTO Dispute Settlement System and the Evolution of International IP Law: An Institutional Perspective" [2011] ELECD 204; in Kur, Annette (ed), "Intellectual Property Rights in a Fair World Trade System" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Intellectual Property Rights in a Fair World Trade System

Editor(s): Kur, Annette

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800099

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: The WTO Dispute Settlement System and the Evolution of International IP Law: An Institutional Perspective

Author(s): Engelbrekt, Antonina Bakardjieva

Number of pages: 61

Extract:

3. The WTO dispute settlement system
and the evolution of international
IP law: an institutional perspective
Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt

1. INTRODUCTION

One of the major advances in the legal regime of international trade
from the transition from GATT to the WTO was the constitution of a
more sophisticated and efficient dispute settlement system (DSS). The
institutional design of dispute settlement was the subject of intense nego-
tiations during the Uruguay Round and was eventually set out in the
Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) forming part of the Agreement
Establishing the WTO.1 The dispute settlement procedure builds on the
relevant provisions of the GATT, but is far more elaborate, moving in the
direction of a quasi-judicial mechanism.
By linking the international legal regime of intellectual property (IP)
with that of international trade through the TRIPS Agreement, the
DSU becomes applicable also to disputes based on alleged violations by
Members of their obligations concerning IP rights as laid down in TRIPS.2
The WTO dispute settlement mechanism and its institutional design are
therefore of the utmost significance for the interpretation of the TRIPS
Agreement and eventually for the dynamics of IP law-making and for the
fine-tuning of today's complex multi-level system of IP governance.3


1 See Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of

Disputes (Dispute Settlement Understanding, DSU), Appendix I (B).
2 See Article 64 TRIPS with reference to Articles XXII and XXIII of GATT

1994 and the DSU. The possibility of using the ...