Provides an overview, based on intellectual property rights negotiations in the Americas, of some of the implications of regional and bilateral Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) plus agreements for the current minimum standards under TRIPs. It discusses the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) in relation to TRIPs, and argues that the push towards ever-stronger IPRs threatens to undermine the balance achieved in many national laws and the capacity of developing countries to use flexibilities existing at the international level to achieve developmental and public policy goals.

This is TRIPs Issues Paper number 1, published by QUNO, Geneva and the Quaker International Affairs Programme (QIAP), Ottawa.