This course provides students with a critical understanding of intellectual property (IP) laws in Asia-Pacific through a regulatory and comparative approach. IP laws in these countries have been influenced by international harmonisation, primarily by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). More recently, some countries in this region have also actively engaged in regional and international IP rulemaking. The primary learning objective is to help students analyse and evaluate cutting-edge issues in IP law across different national contexts, taking into account local social, economic, and cultural considerations.
The course starts with international intellectual property law harmonisation, focusing on the TRIPS Agreement and the “minimum” standards it set for WTO members. The discussion then extends to post-TRIPS bilateral and plurilateral trade agreement (such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), so that the students can understand the dynamics that have further impacted the IP law landscape in Asian-pacific countries in the last two decades. It then analyses pivotal IP issues in multilateral and bilateral rulemaking, including IP and protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge and geographical indications in the EU-Australia and EU-New Zealand trade negotiation. It concludes by identifying the challenges and emerging trends in IP laws in the Asia-Pacific, including the insufficient response of the IP laws to sustainability challenge, and bottom-up IP lawmaking initiatives in relation to data and artificial intelligence in the digital economy.