Abstract

ONATE ACOSTA, Tatiana. Developing countries, Doha Round, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Opin. jurid. [online]. 2010, vol.9, n.18, pp.129-142. ISSN 1692-2530.

Within the international trade, regulation of intellectual property rights related to commerce has been a scenario (maybe as in no other) where tensions between "North" and "South" have been evident as the result of their opposed and hardly reconcilable interests. This article analyzes advances achieved by developing countries within Doha Round negotiations in two main topics of the world debate on intellectual property: pharmaceutical products and traditional knowledge; and a debate is kept open on the backwardness that boom of bilateral way may imply for defense of their interests. The objective of this article is to show that, despite terms foreseen for finishing Doha Round are due, the initial term was January 1st, 2005 and in December 2005 its members unofficially proposed conclusion of negotiations by the end of 2006 (term which was not fulfilled either), and up to this date, it can only be qualified as a failure; blocking of negotiations ended up in an indefinite suspension in July 2006; it should not be ignored than, in relation to the Agreement on TRIPS, Doha Round allowed developing countries to initiate an involvment which they would have never imagined twenty years ago. Thanks to the multilateral character of the WTO -commonly criticized for this reason- developed countries had been able to defend their interests in relation to a extremely important topic for their recognition, as the access to medications, and a debate has been opened to finally look for recognition of their right to protect and benefit from traditional knowledge.

Keywords : International trade; multilateral; bilateral; regional trade agreements; intellectual property; pharmaceutical products; traditional knowledge.

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