The Morning After: TRIPS-Plus, FTAs and Wikileaks - Fresh Insights on the Implementation and Enforcement of IP Protection in Developing Countries

Abstract

Leaked diplomatic cables related to the United States’ foreign policy implementing and enforcing intellectual property in developing countries draw a bleak picture. U.S. interest groups and local agents collaborate to achieve higher levels of intellectual property protection without taking into consideration the public interest and consumer rights of local communities. This "act of state-sponsored violence," as some have proclaimed it, jeopardizes the lives of millions of citizens across the globe. It also undermines the foundations of the global multilateral trading regime and its institutions, particularly the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was created by the global community in 1995 in order to put an end to multilateralism and multilaterally regulate global trade in goods and services.