ABSTRACT
Intellectual property is one of the most dynamic and volatile areas of global economic governance. What at one time appeared to be an arcane and forbiddingly technical area of regulation has animated many bitter disputes and political protests. Public health activists have argued that patent rights present a barrier for access to essential medicines; advocates for free speech and privacy protest against draconian measures to regulate the internet. Forum proliferation and inconsistent mandates across diverse forums have complicated the institutional landscape. Multiple stakeholders have engaged in the practices of both horizontal (from one multilateral venue to another) and vertical (from multilateral to plurilateral, regional or bilateral) forum-shifting in order to secure strategic advantage for their preferred outcomes. Non-state actors always have played an important role in intellectual property policy, although states remain important as both the granters and guarantors of intellectual property rights. This chapter examines the evolution of international intellectual property policies, with a focus on the institutional and political contestation, players, paradigms and power.
