TRIPS is an international agreement that modifies IP law across borders.
Petersen ’22 [Douglas and Ernest Kawka; November 29; PhRMA’s Deputy Vice President for International Trade, previously served as International Trade Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance; PhRMA’s Deputy Vice President for International Intellectual Property, J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law; PhRMA; “Word of the Month: What is TRIPS?” https://phrma.org/en/Blog/Word-of-the-Month-What-is-TRIPS]
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is a comprehensive international agreement dating from 1995 that establishes minimum intellectual property (IP) protections. Signed by the vast majority of WTO member countries, TRIPS provides a basic global floor for IP standards. TRIPS seeks to ensure that IP is protected and enforced across borders and that bad actors do not get a free ride on innovators’ investments. Least-developed countries are exempt from meeting most substantive TRIPS obligations, while countries seeking to promote and lead innovation, such as the United States, provide IP protections beyond the minimum requirements of TRIPS.