The claim is that the Australian rules breach the WTO rules on barriers to trade and providing IPR protection, specifically because it prevents companies exercising their trademark rights. Ukraine, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Cuba have already filed such complaints. No decision is expected until 2014 at the earliest.
IP Komodo sees a number of interesting issues. Firstly SE Asia's emerging countries are trying to flex their muscles in IPR matters. Thailand is resisting certain IP provisions in its proposed EU FTA. Recently Indonesia's representative at the WIPO complained at the lack of progress on protecting traditional knowledge, suggesting that developed countries need to be brought to book on this. There certainly seems to be a trend for more assertive resistance to developed countries pressure on IPRs.
But this contrasts with the public health v IPRs debate, which see Thailand and to a lesser extent Indonesia trying to restrict IPRs so as not to affect access to cheap medicines. Beyond that both those countries have, through separate Ministries ironically also begun to restrict tobacco companies' branding of packs. See here and here.
In this lies the classic conflict of IPRs as permitted monopolies, albeit manifested through differing policies. The Indonesian Ministry of Health issues rules to stifle branding on cigarettes whilst its Ministry of Agriculture seeks to prevent Australia doing a more extreme version of the same thing.
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