ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the construction and logic of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as protected by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) Agreement. It offers some hopeful observations about the struggle to provide treatment to Africans with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The chapter discusses that in the case of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the AIDS crisis has fundamentally weakened the legitimacy of the TRIPS Agreement. It emphasizes that the lack of universal acceptance of absolute protection of IPRs has enabled a new view of health care as a human right to emerge. The chapter asserts that the Doha declaration, the 2003 WTO agreements, and the actions of African states and nongovernmental organizations have contributed to a gradual reorientation of policy towards intellectual property users. The passage of the TRIPS represents the consolidation of a neoliberal view of the role of IPRs in international economic relations.
