International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Trade and Intellectual Property

26 posts

The Future of the TRIPS Agreement Non-Violation / Situation Complaint Moratorium

One of the things that didn't get done at MC14 was the adoption of a Ministerial Decision to extend the moratorium on TRIPS Agreement non-violation and situation complaints. As explained by the WTO DG, this issue will now be part of the continued work in Geneva.

Checking In On the Trump Administration's Drug Price Control Plans

Following up on two previous posts I did on this issue, let's see how the Trump administration's plan to push drug prices in the U.S. down while pushing drug prices in other countries up is going. At the end of September, Trump announced "the

Guest Post: Putting the “harm” in Pharmaceuticals – evaluating President Trump’s proposal of 100% tariffs

This is a guest post from Simon Schropp (BRG and George Washington University) On Friday, September 25, 2025, President Trump – characteristically in a post on Truth Social – announced his intention to impose a 100% tariff on any branded/patented pharmaceutical products imported into the United States, unless the manufacturer “is

Guest Post: China – Enforcement of IP Rights: Navigating Different Conceptions of Territoriality in International Intellectual Property Law

This is a guest post from Emmanuel Kolawole Oke, Senior Lecturer at Edinburgh Law School What does it mean to ‘give effect to’ the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement? That is the key question at the centre of the dispute between the EU and China at the WTO regarding anti-suit

Trump Pushes Big Pharma on Controlling U.S. Prices

Following up on a previous post of mine, let's check in on the Trump administration's efforts to lower drug prices in the U.S. market. A White House fact sheet from last week explains that "Trump sent letters to leading pharmaceutical manufacturers outlining the steps

Can the Trump Administration's Price Control Plan Bring U.S. Pharmaceutical Prices Down?

In recent months, the Trump administration has undertaken some efforts to lower U.S. drug prices. I'm skeptical that their approach will work, but nevertheless it involves a range of issues that interact in interesting ways. With the caveat that I'm not really an expert on

Guest Post: Are the revisions to the EU’s ‘Bolar’ system compatible with TRIPS?

This is a guest post from Maarten Meulenbelt, Chris Boyle, Lauren Shapiro, Maryanne Kamau, and Alix Vermulst of Sidley Austin. The full article on which the post is based is available here. In the EU, much has been written about the so-called “Pharma Review” proposals, published by the European Commission

Battle of the Gruyeres

Back in January 2022, I wrote about a U.S. federal court ruling that Gruyere is a generic cheese term, which meant that, despite the protests of the Swiss cheese industry, U.S. producers could make Gruyere cheese and put the word "Gruyere" on the product label in

U.S. Court Rules that "Gruyere" Is a Generic Term

Periodically, I like to start fights with Europeans on Twitter about geographical indications. It's not a perfect breakdown by country/continent, but it mostly lines up as a "new world" vs. "old world" fight. Recently I started a good one based on a U.

The ITC's USMCA Report: The IP Section

This is from the IP section of the ITC's USMCA report (starts on p. 213): Modeling of Changes to Key IPR Provisions The Commission’s quantitative assessment of the effects of key IPR changes in USMCA identifies the statistical relationships between trade in certain IPR-intensive manufacturing sectors and