Andrea Wechsler

China’s WTO Accession Revisited: Achievements and Challenges in Chinese Intellectual Property Law Reform

The Long March represents one of the most significant turning points in modern Chinese history. Building upon this significance, the Long March-metaphor has found its way into the assessment of Chinese law reform efforts and achievements.

WIPO’s Policy Priorities in a World of Global Legal Pluralism: Alternative Dispute Resolution for Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) and the Protection of Audiovisual Performances

The twenty-first century has become a century in which the global race for economic success and prosperity is becoming ever fiercer. In this global race, the design of intellectual property (IP) law regimes plays a central role for safeguarding innovations. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has, ever since its establishment in 1967, played a crucial role in designing and governing global IP protection. Recent years, however, have seen a rather rapidly changing environment that dramatically challenges its policy priorities. This paper argues that the changing nature of WIPOs policy priorities and strategies reflects a consistent shift from a fulfillment of public governance functions as intergovernmental organization towards also facilitating and supporting private governance of global IP policies. As such, this shift demonstrates a renewed self-confidence of WIPO as global regulatory institution in a new and pluralistic regulatory space. It follows that the changing nature of WIPOs policy priorities can be theorized and conceptualized as an emanation of ever stronger global legal pluralism in international IP law.

WIPO and the Public-Private Web of Global Intellectual Property Governance

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has always been recognized as important international economic institution for the global governance of intellectual property (IP) law. Moreover, its role in promoting, facilitating and supporting national, regional and local governance of IP law worldwide has long been uncontested. However, ever since the late 1980s, fundamental transformations in the IP landscape have challenged the established position of WIPO in global IP governance.