TRIPS Agreement
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Acronym for Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Including Trade in Counterfeit Goods (Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement of 1994). Most countries of the world are now members. Canada implemented this treaty by the World Trade Organization Implementation Act, S.C. 1994, c. 57, effective as from 1 January 1996. TRIPS requires high minimum standards of IP protection of its members, with trade panels adjudicating disputes and imposing sanctions for non-observance. Most cases have been brought by the United States and the European Union against countries of the developing world, but Canada too has been targeted, preventing the stockpiling of generic copies of patented medicines for early entry when the drug went off-patent.
