Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights (Cambridge Studies in International Relations, Series Number 88)

Susan K. Sell's book shows how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the WTO adopted the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states how they should regulate the protection of intellectual property. This book argues that TRIPS resulted from lobbying by twelve powerful CEOs of multinational corporations who wished to mould international law to protect their markets. This book examines the politics leading up to TRIPS, the first seven years of its implementation, and the political backlash against TRIPS in the face of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Focusing on global capitalism, ideas, and economic coercion, this work explains the politics behind TRIPS and the controversies created in its wake. It is a fascinating study of the influence of private interests in government decision-making, and in the shaping of the global economy. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 5 Title 7 Copyright 8 Dedication 9 Contents 11 Figures and tables 12 Figures 12 Tables 12 Acknowledgments 13 Abbreviations 16 1 Introduction 19 Analytic perspectives 20 An introduction to TRIPS 25 TRIPS in historical perspective 28 A structural perspective: TRIPS in the global economy 35 Structures, agents, and institutions 39 Organization of the book 46 2 Structure, agents, and institutions 48 Structures, agents, and institutions 49 Structure’s effect on institutions 53 Structure’s effects on agents’ interests 55 The structure of the international system 57 A simple counterfactual 58 The difference that agency makes 61 Direct and indirect power of the private sector 64 The new global intellectual property regime 73 The rest of the book 77 3 US intellectual property rights in historical perspective 78 US intellectual property rights in historical perspective 78 Copyrights 79 Twentieth-century copyright 81 Patents 82 The creation of the “patent court” 85 Intellectual property and anti-trust 90 4 The domestic origins of a trade-based approach to intellectual property 93 The 1974 amendments to the Tariff Act and the eroding consensus on US GATT obligations 94 Trade amendments in 1979 and the increasing role of the private sector 96 Linking trade and intellectual property: the 1984 amendments 99 Dissatisfaction with the 1984 amendments 105 The 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act 109 5 The Intellectual Property Committee and transnational mobilization 114 The quest for a multilateral approach to intellectual property: the IPC 118 IPC: mobilizing a transnational coalition; shoring up a consensus 122 The GATT negotiations and the TRIPS accord 126 6 Life after TRIPS – aggression and opposition 139 Industry strategies 140 TRIPS cases – WTO 147 Other actions under Section 301 156 Opposition 157 Agriculture and plant varieties 158 Pharmaceutical patents 164 Reactions to trade pressure and the Gore campaign 169 Seattle and the executive order 171 Pressure on prices 173 Doha and the Doha Declaration 177 7 Conclusion – structured agency revisited 181 The difference that agency makes: private power in comparative perspective 181 Intellectual property protection: TRIPS 183 General agreement on trade in services 183 Financial services agreement 185 Trade-related investment measures 186 Summary of the cases 189 Compliance, legitimacy, private power and public law 190 New constraints, opportunities, and the post-TRIPS backlash 191 Structures, agents, and institutions revisited 197 Conclusion 202 References 207 Index 228

Susan Sell's book reveals how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Agreement in Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states how they should regulate the protection of intellectual property. This book argues that TRIPS resulted from lobbying by powerful multinational corporations who wished to mould international law to protect their markets.

Susan K. Sell's book argues that lobbying by powerful multinational corporations has moulded international law on intellectual property rights in order to protect their markets. It is a fascinating study of the influence of private interests in government decision-making, and in the shaping of the global economy In 1990 an American-based private business association used its power not only to reject, but to actively shape, the legislation of a foreign, sovereign government.