TRIPS Agreement and the experience of Kenya regarding patents and compulsory licensing of HIV/AIDS drugs

• Pages: 22-29

22

Vol.10 No.3

December, 2024

Balkan Journal of

Interdisciplinary Research

E-ISSN 2411-9725

ISSN 2410-759X

TRIPS Agreement and the experience of Kenya regarding patents and

compulsory licensing of HIV/AIDS drugs

Ersila Abazaj

European University of Tirana, Albania

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjir-2024-0022

Abstract

Although the TRIPS Agreement establishes minimum standards for the protection of

intellectual property, it also leaves some room for policy interpretation by WTO members,

whether they are developed or developing nations. This allows them to implement the

Agreement’s provisions in a variety of ways and to enact legislation in areas that are not

covered by the Agreement’s minimum standards. The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public

Health specically recognizes the importance of the implementation of TRIPS exibilities for

the design of a pro-competitive intellectual property system and, in particular, for achieving

public health objectives. The paper draws general aspects of the TRIPS agreement, requirements

to be part of the TRIPS agreement, implementation of patent protection, the DOHA declaration

and lastly a case study regarding compulsory licensing of HIV/AIDS drugs.

Keywords: TRIPS agreement, intellectual property, standards, trademark.

1. Introduction

All of the World Trade Organization’s members are bound by the Agreement on

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (WTO). It species

minimal requirements for national governments to follow when regulating various

types of intellectual property (IP) with relation to citizens of other WTO member

countries. The TRIPS agreement, which is overseen by the WTO, was negotiated at

the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Taris and Trade

(GATT) between 1989 and 1990 (Scherer, 2001). The TRIPS agreement, the most com-

prehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date, was the rst to in-

tegrate intellectual property law into the global trading system. Concerned that rich

countries were insisting on an overly restrictive interpretation of TRIPS, developing

nations started a round of negotiations in 2001 that resulted in the Doha Declaration

(Kiri, 2023). The WTO’s Doha declaration denes the scope of TRIPS, for instance by

Research Article

© 2024 Ersila Abazaj

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