New "Mega Regionals" and the Global Intellectual Property Regime: From TPP to CPTPP

With the continued impasse of Doha Round WTO negotiations, there has been
a dramatic proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements. Many of these
agreements present rules that go beyond the WTO framework (WTO-plus rules)
as in services or intellectual property, or that deal with subjects outside the scope of the organization, such as environment, labor clauses, competition and investments (WTO-extra rules). This is particularly the case with the more recent so-called mega regional agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP, formerly the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP). After the US withdrew from the agreement, the remaining members have pushed forward with the goal of achieving “deep integration” among its members and thereby becoming a model for 21st century global trade rules. This paper focuses on one crucial area covered in the CPTPP—intellectual property rights. US withdrawal made possible a suspension of many of the Intellectual Property provisions that the US had fought to include in the TPP. Overall, the aim of the article is to better understand the contours and economic and political dimensions of global governance through an examination of the role of intellectual property rights in the evolving global trade regime.