Intellectual Property Rights Public Health

This briefing by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) details the status of negotiations within the WTO TRIPs Council regarding intellectual property rights, public health, and geographical indications following the 2001 Doha Declaration.

• The WTO TRIPs Council failed to reach a consensus by the 31 December 2002 deadline on an 'expeditious solution' for countries with insufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity to use compulsory licensing. The primary point of contention was disease coverage: the US argued the solution should be limited to "HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases of comparable gravity", while developing countries sought a broader scope based on "public health problems afflicting many developing and least-developed countries".
• In response to the deadlock, the US, Switzerland, and Canada established an interim moratorium stating they would not challenge WTO Members that export drugs produced under compulsory license to countries in need. The US moratorium is limited to "HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious epidemics" and excludes developed or high-income developing countries; the EU's moratorium does not have these specific disease limitations.
• Negotiations on a multilateral system for the notification and registration of geographical indications (GIs) for wines and spirits are divided over the level of obligation. The EU advocates for a system where countries are "obliged to protect the terms", whereas Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US prefer a system that functions "essentially as a database" where protection is left to each country's discretion.
• There is a significant divide regarding the extension of high-level GI protection to products other than wines and spirits. Switzerland, the EU, and Bulgaria support this extension to promote exports and prevent misappropriation, while bulk agricultural exporters from the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand oppose it.
• A group of developing countries, including Brazil, China, and India, has proposed modifying the TRIPs Agreement to prevent "biopiracy" and ensure the fair sharing of benefits. They suggest requiring patent applicants to disclose the source of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge (TK). The US strongly opposes these disclosure requirements, claiming they would be "incompatible with the TRIPs Agreement".
• Most WTO Members, excluding the US, believe that non-violation complaints—legal actions based on the loss of an expected benefit even if no agreement was violated—should not be applicable to the TRIPs Agreement. A proposal from various developing countries seeks to have the 5th Ministerial Conference determine these complaints "inapplicable to the TRIPs Agreement".

APA

Baumuller, H., Cameron, H., Halle, A., Meléndez-Ortiz, R., Mosoti, V., Primack, D., Sugathan, M., Vivas, D., & Werth, A. (2003). Intellectual Property Rights Public Health. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_ipr.pdf

Chicago

Baumuller, Heike, Hugo Cameron, Anja Halle, Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Victor Mosoti, David Primack, Mahesh Sugathan, David Vivas, and Alexander Werth. Intellectual Property Rights Public Health. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2003. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_ipr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Baumuller |first1=Heike |last2=Cameron |first2=Hugo |last3=Halle |first3=Anja |last4=Meléndez-Ortiz |first4=Ricardo |last5=Mosoti |first5=Victor |last6=Primack |first6=David |last7=Sugathan |first7=Mahesh |last8=Vivas |first8=David |last9=Werth |first9=Alexander |title=Intellectual Property Rights Public Health |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=13 February 2003 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_ipr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{baumuller2003intellectual, author = {Baumuller, Heike and Cameron, Hugo and Halle, Anja and Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo and Mosoti, Victor and Primack, David and Sugathan, Mahesh and Vivas, David and Werth, Alexander}, title = {{Intellectual Property Rights Public Health}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2003}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/wto_doha_ipr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }