Intellectual Property

This handbook describes the historical and legal background to the TRIPS Agreement, its role in the WTO and its institutional framework. Furthermore, it includes the legal texts of the TRIPS Agreement and the relevant provisions of the WIPO conventions referred to in it, as well as subsequent relevant WTO instruments and related non-WTO treaties.

This book provides an in depth analysis of the principles and of the substantive and enforcement provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. It discusses the legal context in which the Agreement was negotiated, the objectives of their proponents and the nature of the obligations it created for the members of the World Trade Organization.

This edition is updated to reflect dispute-settlement panel reports, the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and other developments. The text is split into three parts discussing and analyzing the TRIPS Agreement. Part 1 describes the development of the TRIPS Agreement, Part 2 is an exhaustive commentary on all 79 Articles of the Agreement, and Part 3 reproduces legislation, agreements and decisions that a practitioner might need to understand it.