[A2k] CIEL Paper-SUSPENDING IP OBLIGATIONS UNDER TRIPS-A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO ENFORCE PREVAILING WTO RULINGS?

[Dalindyebo Bafana Shabalala]

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Dear friends and colleagues,

CIEL presents a paper on /SUSPENDING IP OBLIGATIONS UNDER TRIPS: A
VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO ENFORCE PREVAILING WTO RULINGS?/ Available at:
http://www.ciel.org/Publications/TRIPS_IP_7May08.pdf

In two recent prominent disputes in the World Trade Organization (WTO),
developing country complainants are using the WTO Agreement on Trade
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to induce
compliance with favorable WTO rulings. Brazil in the /US -- Cotton/
dispute and Antigua in the US -- Gambling case announced their intention
to "cross-retaliate" against WTO-inconsistent measures of the US by
suspending obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This approach can offer
apractical alternative enforcement mechanism especially for developing
countries and smaller economies in disputes against (developed)
countries with significantly greater economic power in international
trade. The concept has been explored in some academic writings and
approved by WTO arbitrators in a recent /US -- Gambling/ decision and in
response to Ecuador's retaliation request in the /EC -- Bananas III/ case.

The paper was also discussed at a CIEL workshop on Tuesday May 6, 2008
where the author Dr. Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan (Max Planck Institute for
Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law) presented the paper with
commentary from Thomas Sebastian of the Advisory Centre for WTO Law and
Stephen Fevrier, a Trade Consultant working with the Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States.
The agenda, powerpoint presentations and list of particpants are
available on the CIEL website at
http://www.ciel.org/Tae/TRIPS_6May08.html <http://www.ciel.org/>

 For further information on these issues please contact:

In Geneva: Dalindyebo Shabalala, +41 22 321 4774, dshabalala@ciel.org
<mailto:dshabalala@ciel.org>;
                Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, +41 22 321 4777,
nbernasconi@ciel.org <mailto:nbernasconi@ciel.org>;
In Washington, DC: Marcos Orellana, +1 202 742 5847, morellana@ciel.org
<mailto:morellana@ciel.org>

Regards,
Dalindyebo Shabalala
Director, Project on Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development
Center for International Environmental Law
Rue des Savoises 15
1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 321 4774
Fax: +41 22 489 0739
www.ciel.org