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PIJIP and Public Citizen will co-host a multidisciplinary event that will bring together academics, civil society, and policy makers to 1) examine how intellectual property affects economic growth in countries at different levels of development, and 2) analyze the way the United States ratifies trade agreements through Executive Agreements.

United States trade policy aims to increase levels of intellectual property protection abroad beyond the level required by current international law codified in the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights. Trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) require the extension of intellectual property protection to new types of products, processes and works, as well as increased enforcement of the new obligations. Policymakers have argued that stronger intellectual property protection will help economies grow, through increased foreign investment and the encouragement of domestic innovation. Academic research often finds a more complicated relationship between intellectual property on the one hand, and foreign investment, innovation and growth on the other – a relationship that can differ from nation to nation.

Our first panel will include professors of economics, law and business, each of whom have written on linkages between intellectual property and other determinants of growth. Our second panel will include one of the authors of the recent and often cited Department of Commerce report Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus, a representative from the biotechnology industry, and two panelists from consumer oriented nonprofits that have each been involved in the TPP negotiations.

At lunch, Yale Law Professor Oona Hathaway will present her critique of the way trade agreements are implemented in the U.S. via Executive Agreements, and her proposal to create a more balanced, democratic, and effective system for international lawmaking in the United States. Her talk will be followed by a response from NYU Law Professor Rochelle Dreyfuss.

Click here for the agenda, bios, registration, and to view a (recorded) webcast.