The European Union has obtained a mostly favourable ruling in one of its continuing trade disputes with China over intellectual property, according to a decision published by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday.
But an arbitration body created as an alternative the WTO’s moribund appellate system has now largely reversed that ruling.
“The arbitrators disagreed with the Panel’s interpretation,” a Geneva-based trade official, who asked not to be identified, said, explaining the decision.
The arbitrators, the official said, “found that the main measure at issue – which empowered Chinese courts to prohibit patent holders from enforcing their patent rights in jurisdictions outside of China in the context of patent litigation in China – was inconsistent with TRIPS obligations concerning those patent rights”.
TRIPS, or the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, sets minimum standards for IP protection among member states.
