Pharmaceutical patents and some international trade issues: Canada, the United States, and NAFTA

This paper traces the evolution of a more aggressive US policy for the protection of the intellectual property rights of its citizens, individual and corporate, who do business aborad. It focuses on the pharmaceutical industry and, in particular, the harmonization of conflicting US and Canadian policies. In reconciling these policy differences, the United States unilaterally applied relatively new procedures authorized under section 301 and Special 301 of its trade laws. It also utilized the bilateral dispute mechanism mandating cooperation "in the Uruguay Round ... to improve protection of intellectual property," as provided in the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. These efforts were successful; Canada amended its patent law in 1993 to conform to current international practices. These changes were incorporated into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), making it a state-of-the-art example of the protection of intellectual property rights. The intellectual property chapter of NAFTA will serve as the model for US intellectual property rights negotiations for the foreseeable future.