Re-Communicating the EU's IPR Strategy for Third Countries

Indgående analyse 25-03-2015

The European Commission's most recent initiative in the field of intellectual property rights (IPR), a 2014 communication, returns to an issue that has been largely side-lined since the European Parliament rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in 2014. While not a landmark, 'Trade, growth and intellectual property – Strategy for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries' (COM(2014)0389) serves as a good basis for constructive debate on securing better IPR protection in foreign markets, in cooperation with third countries and without infringing on civil liberties. The new document builds on a 2004 communication with a nearly identical title ('Strategy for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries'), which introduced a broad framework of initiatives aimed at combatting IPR violations outside the EU.