Balancing the Global Copyright System in the Public Interest: An Analysis of the African Group’s Proposed Instrument on Limitations and Exceptions
South Centre and Centre on Knowledge Governance Working Paper, 1 December 2025
By Faith O. Majekolagbe
The establishment of an international instrument on copyright limitations and exceptions (L&Es) is essential to achieve an appropriate balance between exclusive rights and the overarching public interest in access to copyrighted works and related subject matter. Current international copyright instruments, including the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, fail to adequately address L&Es for education, research, equitable access for persons with disabilities, and the operations of educational, research, and cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums. The proposed instrument on L&Es by the African Group seeks to establish mandatory minimum L&Es to support education, research, and access to information within the international copyright system, thereby promoting global harmonization and ensuring that copyright law supports, not impedes, development objectives and compliance with human rights obligations. This working paper offers a thorough analysis of the proposed instrument, examining its substantive provisions and potential benefits.
Report on Compulsory Licensing Provisions in the National Patent Legislation of 15 Middle-Income Countries:
A Content Analysis and Recommendations
A Report of the Global Economic Governance Initiative of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center
Published by the South Centre and the Global Economic Governance Initiative of Boston University Global Development Policy Center
This study examines compulsory licensing laws in 15 middle-income countries often excluded from voluntary licenses & finds significant untapped policy space to advance access to affordable medicines. It highlights best practices & makes key recommendations to improve patent laws for the use of this important TRIPS flexibility.
Are countries maximizing the policy space they have to grant compulsory licenses to improve access to medicines?
Webinar
Date & Time: Thursday, 13 November 2025, 13h-14h30 (Geneva) / 7h-8h30 (Boston) / 23h-00h30 (Melbourne)
Join the Launch of a Report onCompulsory Licensing Provisions in the National Patent Legislation of 15 Middle-Income Countries, published by the South Centre and the Global Economic Governance Initiative of Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
The WIPO Patent Agenda: The Risks for Developing Countries
by Carlos M. Correa and Sisule F. Musungu
This paper is aimed at assessing some of the implications of the WIPO Patent Agenda, in the context of the ongoing debates on the benefits and costs of intellectual property protection for developing and least developed countries. The main aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the processes under the Patent Agenda, to identify and examine the main issues that are under discussion and to underscore the importance of these issues for developing and least-developed countries.
Building Up a Balanced Global Intellectual Property System: Report of the WIPO Assemblies’ Sixty-sixth Series of Meetings
Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity Programme, South Centre
This report reviews the key discussions and outcomes of the 66th Series of Meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Assemblies held in July 2025. The Assemblies addressed important governance, oversight, and norm-setting issues. Key developments included the launch of the process to appoint a new Director General, decisions on committee compositions and approval of the 2026/27 Program and Budget. Developing countries advocated for more inclusive participation in governance, balanced priority setting on norm-setting work, and stronger implementation of the Development Agenda.
WIPO’s new Treaty on genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge – a long-awaited and groundbreaking step towards combatting biopiracy
By Wend Wendland
WIPO’s new Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge responds to an over 25 years’ demand by developing countries to combat biopiracy. The Treaty is the first intellectual property treaty for which those countries were the proponents. While the Treaty’s adoption on May 24, 2024 was a momentous milestone in the evolution of the patent system, it is critical that the Treaty’s paradigm-shifting political and symbolic importance be matched by its practical effectiveness.
WTO TRIPS Agreement: Insights from a Negotiator at the Uruguay Round of GATT
By Jayashree Watal
This article recounts how the TRIPS Agreement negotiations took place from the perspective of a participant in the negotiations. It outlines India’s concerns with the developed countries’ proposals and notes that most developing countries wrongly thought that TRIPS was about trade in counterfeit goods, a subject that was first broached at the end of the Tokyo Round in 1978-9. On the contrary, Industry associations of the US, EU and Japan had, quite early on in the negotiations in 1988, drawn up a legal text very close to what became the final text of the TRIPS Agreement.
History of the Negotiations of the TRIPS Agreement
By Carlos Correa
When the currently developed countries started their industrialization process, the intellectual property system was very flexible and allowed them to industrialize based on imitation, as it was notably the case of the United States. The international intellectual property system evolved since the end of the XIX Century based on a number of conventions on which the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) was later built on. Developing countries resisted the incorporation into the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of broad disciplines on intellectual property, as they were conscious that they were disadvantaged in terms of science and technology and that a new agreement, with a mechanism to enforce its rules, would freeze the comparative advantages that developed countries enjoyed. Faced with the threat of not getting concessions in agriculture and textiles -that were crucial for their economies- they were finally forced to enter into negotiations of an Agreement, the terms of which were essentially dictated by developed countries. Coercion rather than negotiations among equal partners seems to explain the final adoption of this Agreement.
The Importance of Balanced Intellectual Property Systems for Patients’ Access to Medicines: An Analysis
By Archana Jatkar and Nicolás Tascón
Access to safe, effective, cost-effective, and quality-assured medicines is fundamental from a patients’ perspective. The International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) recently released a reporthighlighting the critical balance between innovation, competition, and timely access to medicines. This article delves into the key findings of IGBA’s report, their implications on patient access to medicines and national healthcare budgets, and the IGBA’s recommendations for improving the global pharmaceutical landscape.
South Centre Statement to the 66th WIPO Assemblies
July 2025
At the WIPO Assemblies, the South Centre calls for a balanced IP regime that supports development, links to the SDGs, and preserves national policy space. We back the GRATK Treaty, TK & TCE negotiations, and a Development Acceleration Fund.
Scope of Compulsory License and Government Use of Patented Medicines
To meet public health needs governments can use compulsory licenses and government use as a tool for procurement and import of patented medicines. These mechanisms are provided for in most laws worldwide. The WTO TRIPS Agreement, as reaffirmed by the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, recognises the right of WTO members to grant compulsory licenses and their freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licenses may be granted.
This table provides information of instances of their use.
User Rights Symposium 2025: Principles for Progress in Digital Copyright
Geneva, Switzerland
16-18 June 2025
This year’s symposium will be hosted by PIJIP’s Geneva Center on Knowledge Governance and the South Centre, with collaborating partners IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions), the Knowledge Rights 21 Project, COMMUNIA Association for the Public Domain.
American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property invites you to participate in this year’s annual meeting and Symposium of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of this year’s symposium is to share research and deliberate over principles that guide protection of the public interest in the digital copyright issues WIPO is considering. We seek presentations of research and views on the following:
