Settlement of International Intellectual Property Disputes

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which administers some twenty six sets of multilateral treaties on intellectual property (IP) law including the Paris and Berne Conventions, is the global organization to regulate the intellectual property rights (IPRs). Besides WIPO-administered treaties, the conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) during the Uruguay Round as an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has posited the WTO as one more global authority on IPRs. This article sheds light on the dispute settlement regime within the international intellectual property law administered by both WIPO and WTO. LDCs along with the developing and developed ones must have the opportunity to secure their legitimate business interests, curb unfair practices and cope with unlawful restrictions through timely and effective dispute resolution. Nevertheless, the DSMs under international IP law are yet to be proven efficacious and convenient enough for the LDCs and developing countries to negotiate their odds with larger economies or counterparts. This article critically examines the existing dispute settlement rules, procedures and structures within the framework of major international IP law especially relating to WIPO and TRIPs in light of making accessible fair, equitable and just international economic legal system to the LDCs on par with other economies. To identify major constraints on proper access of LDCs and developing countries to dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) within international IP law, the study concentrates on the analysis of dispute settlement provisions in IP law instruments formulated under the auspices WIPO and TRIPs Agreement within WTO.