TPP and Intellectual Property: Growing Concerns

Promoted as a high-quality twenty-first century trade agreement for the Asia-Pacific, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has generated concerns over several WTO plus issues it is negotiating. This article examines the concerns on intellectual property rules with respect to patents and copyrights. While large emerging markets like China and India are not part of the TPP, growth of a rigid intellectual property regime as proposed by the TPP in the Asia-Pacific, will have several implications for them, particularly in innovations and production of generic pharmaceuticals, as discussed by the article.