WTO 분쟁해결기구와 TRIPS협정: TRIPS 공공영역의 분쟁해결제도화
WTO Dispute Settlement Body and TRIPS: Institutionalization of TRIPS Public Domain in the Dispute Settlement System
성재호, 유준구
초록
With the advent of the TRIPS Agreement, international disputes about governmental regulation of intellectual property rights are now subject to adjudication within WTO dispute settlement mechanism. The focus of this paper on TRIPS Agreement begs the larger question of whether the WTO mechanism to settle trade disputes between nations takes sufficient account of so-called 'public domain' of TRIPS Agreement in general. The question of how to promote and institutionalize global public domain affirms in a world of sovereign states with divergent norms and preferences, reflecting differences in economic development levels, increasingly confronts the international policy agenda. It raises issues not only for political decision-making but also for judicial interpretation of existing international agreements. The study begins with delineating characteristics and conflicts of TRIPS Agreement taking into backgrounds the UR negotiation and it also distinguishes application of GATT dispute mechanism to the TRIPS Agreement comparing the past GATT with the newly-designed WTO system. This study examines the nature, not only of the WTO as an institution, but of WTO obligation. It posits that WTO obligations remain mixed with a bilateral contract nature and a collective or consitutional type and offers how the TRIPS public domain have fared in the WTO dispute settlement process. The paper wraps up the suggestions on how the WTO system could be improved to give more prominence to public domain of intellectual property rights.