| Summary: | 碩士 === 逢甲大學 === 國際貿易所 === 96 === This thesis A Better Understanding of the Conflict over TRIPS’s Bio Patents through a Political and Post Political Realism Perspective is a modest effort to interpret the actions and reactions of least developed nations (e.g. the African Union) developing nations (e.g. India) and developed nations (e.g. the United States) towards patent rights and patents rights’ opposition to biological products in the context of the WTO and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This thesis draws three parallels between trade law and international relations theory. These parallels are: the AU’s Model Law and political realism, India’s sui genreris approach to TRIPS and post political realism, and the United State’s Compulsory Licensing concessions and post political realism. It is my argument that the later two have shown themselves more flexible in accommodating their views and those of others towards TRIPS, while the former have in their opposition to TRIPS not accommodated the views of those who support TRIPS.
In other words, the African Union, which can be described as vehemently anti-TRIPS has prevented access to its biological resources for research and development on a scale that is commercially viable for pharmaceutical companies. India, on the other hand, which can also be described as anti-TRIPS and not having a culture or economy based on intellectual property rights (iprs), has through its domestic legislation developed avenues to help foster a culture of patent rights though not with the same gusto as ipr creation and enforcement in the developed countries. The developed countries, with their emphasis on iprs are the strongest lobbyists for WTO legislation such as TRIPS, but they have also shown great flexibility in allowing for the concerns of the anti-TRIPS camp by addressing issues such as allowing for compulsory licensing which gives developing nations the right to produce patented medicine in the case of national emergency.
International relations theories are an attempt to analyze international relations but are often applied to specific themes such as balance of power, militarism, colonialism etc. IR theories are not very useful for making predictions, but are insightful in analyzing past events. However this thesis is an attempt to apply the theories of political realism and post political realism to the current conflict of bio patents to help define and characterize the actions of these nations as they relate (or don’t relate) among each other in the arena of international trade law.
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