infoJustice

For several years, research at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (MPI) – in collaboration with experts from all over the world – has examined the trend of bilateral and regional agreements that include provisions on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights.

Building on this research, we have drafted a set of PRINCIPLES FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROVISIONS IN BILATERAL AND REGIONAL AGREEMENTS.

These Principles express our core concerns regarding

• the use of IP provisions as a bargaining chip in international trade negotiations;
• the increasing comprehensiveness and complexity of international IP rules in bilateral and regional agreements;
• the lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the negotiating process; and
• the resulting imbalances that are often reflected in the respective IP provisions negotiated on the bilateral or regional level.

The Principles recommend international rules and procedures that can achieve a better, mutually advantageous and balanced regulation of international IP.

The principles represent the views of the drafters and are open to signature by anyone who shares the objectives of the Principles. They will be formally presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) in Oxford, United Kingdom, 23-26 June 2013.