ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the consensus is closed because even with the present stance taken by the US they are accepting that the negotiating of a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) agreement on intellectual property does not require the development of new international norms of intellectual property protection. Rather a GATT agreement on intellectual property should provide remedies for trade distortion that result from the failure of countries to provide existing levels of intellectual property protection that is adequate and effective. Basically the reason is the difference of principles applied in WIPO and in the GATT. Since most international agreements on intellectual property rights appear to lack provisions similar to GATT Articles II and XXVIII on multilateral tariff liberalization and tariff bindings, the GATT might serve also as a model or framework for multilateral negotiations on the level of protection of intellectual property rights.
