Workshop on Declaration on Patents Protection: Regulatory Sovereignty under TRIPS

The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, with the active participation of 40 international patent scholars from 25 countries, has drafted the “Declaration on Patents Protection: Regulatory Sovereignty under TRIPS” to clarify the regulatory options available for WTO members while they implement their obligations under TRIPS Agreement. The Declaration is an attempt to conceptualize the relationship between innovation,patent and competition and to explore the possibilities under the TRIPS agreement for WTO members to develop patent laws that suit their domestic imperatives of socio-economic development. By analyzing the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the Declaration attempts to identify flexibilities member states have when interpreting these provisions in their national legislation.

The text contains 12 sections that take a detailed look at the options relating to subject matter, scope of protection, exhaustion, exceptions to the scope of protection, government use, undisclosed information, enforcement, transit and criminal measures. This document assumes much importance in the content where countries are more and more bound by regional and bilateral free trade agreements, which include TRIPS-plus provisions.

The Declaration was published to mark the 20th  anniversary of the enforcement of the TRIPS Agreement. A large number of scholars have already signed on to this Declaration. After the publication of the Declaration, the Max Planck Institute has been taking steps to launch this in different parts of the world by engaging different stakeholders such us academics, executives, judges, lawyers, industry representatives and civil society members.