[Ruth Knoblich and Tobias Schonwetter] Academia and the public have long been focusing on the North/South power asymmetries in the international IP regime. Two decades after the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) came into effect at the beginning of 1995, it is now becoming obvious, however, that rising economies such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa emerge as a cross-cutting group of players that may help, going forward, to dissolve the North/South polarisation in the international IP order. Firstly, these countries make full use of the existing international IP system: They design their national IP law in compliance with the TRIPS minimum standards for protection, while counterbalancing these standards by strategically utilising (and testing the boundaries of) the TRIPS flexibilities available to them. Secondly, emerging economies have also begun to successfully influence the international system of IP law and policy-making itself to better reflect their interests and needs.