ABSTRACT
In 1994 a large number of states entered into the Marrakech Treaty establishing a successor to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, the World Trade Organization. This chapter considers three acts. In Act I, the government of India (GOI) responds to the sovereignty challenges of negotiating the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In Act II, the GOI responds to an array of implementation challenges, certain of which are aimed at essential sovereign functions. Act III is an appraisal of GOI uses of sovereignty. The chapter appraises the road to Marrakech sets the context for the challenges to sovereignty and the policy responses. States have long been reluctant to confer decision-making competence to international tribunals. In Act II of our story, these are asserted as challenges to the GOI first by states and then by an international organization. A key Indian government response becomes an assertion of national competence through policy termination, prescription, and application.
