Must apply the PDIA BEFORE the plan is implemented

(Graham J. Reynolds University of British Columbia (UBC), Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, “The Precautionary Principle and its Application in the Intellectual Property Context: Towards a Public Domain Impact Assessment,” pg online @ https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2347922 //pa-ef)

In the intellectual property context, a precautionary principle/approach could be applied in several ways. First, a precautionary approach could be applied by the relevant granting bodies in determining whether a patent ought to be granted43 or whether a trademark ought to be registered. Second, the precautionary principle could be applied as an interpretive tool in determining whether an intellectual property right has been infringed;44 whether a compulsory licence ought to be granted; or whether a defence to copyright infringement ought to apply. Third, the precautionary principle could be applied at the point at which proposals, the implementation of which may result in “important” effects on the public domain, are submitted to a minister or Cabinet for approval.45 Fourth, and the subject of this chapter, another situation in which the precautionary principle could be usefully applied is at the point at which proposals for intellectual property reform are introduced. The application of the precautionary principle in the context of intellectual property reform could require legislative bodies, when evaluating proposed amendments to their intellectual property legislation or new intellectual property legislation, to explicitly consider the impact of any such proposals on the public domain. In the following section, I will consider one possible instantiation of the precautionary principle in the context of intellectual property reform, namely in the form of a PDIA.