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Trips (Trade Protected Intellectual Property Rights)

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Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Coursework 2 Module 7LC018
Harvey Jones Student 100045856 December 2008

It has often been said that the WTO dispute settlement system provides an opportunity for developing countries to challenge trade measures taken by developed countries. This essay is an evaluation of whether the above statement reflects the reality of what happens in the dispute settlement system.

Introduction The TRIPS Agreement There must be few people that disagree that there are benefits from engaging in trade. Trade across borders has occurred since the early part of human history, and international trading has developed from countries trading within their own borders. The WTO system can be argued not to be a free trade model but as a practical commercial arrangement between member nations. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have been enormously successful over the last 50 years at reducing tariff and other trade barriers among an ever increasing number of countries. If numbers of member nations are an indication of success then the WTO can be considered to be very successful. Crowley (2003) comments that GATT the predecessor to the WTO began in 1947 with only 23 members; Statistics from the website of the WTO show that on the 27th July 2007 the membership of the WTO comprised 151 countries. Several differences between GATT and the WTO can be noted. The first development is the rise of the importance of developing countries within the WTO. The issue of development is not new in either the GATT or the WTO, but it has been gaining increasing importance. The increase in WTO membership represents an increase in developing country membership. Countries such as India and Brazil play an increasingly important role in the WTO Enforcement of the TRIPS agreement The TRIPS agreement sets

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