ESR9

Project title: The Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property in EU Investment Agreements (project discontinued as of 16 January 2020)

Researcher: Clara Ducimetière

Clara Ducimetière graduated with a joint degree in law and foreign languages before she moved to Colombia to study international law at the Universidad del Rosario. This was followed by a return to Europe where she specialised in European and International Intellectual Property law at the CEIPI in Strasbourg. Before starting the PhD with the EIPIN Innovation Society, she was a trainee at the European Union Intellectual Property Office in Alicante, Spain. Counted among her key strengths are her ability to work in several languages and her self-assurance in multicultural environments.

Publications:

Intellectual Property Under the Scrutiny of Investor-State Tribunals Legitimacy and New Challenges

The increasing recognition of second medical use patents: Legal treatment and public health issues

Host Institution: Université de Strasbourg; Degree Partner: Queen Mary University of London

Objectives:

Intellectual property is invariably included under the definition of investment in international investment agreements, including in new generation agreements signed by the European Union. Intellectual property right holders have thus access to investor-state dispute settlement and investment protection standards, and are able to challenge States’ measures affecting their intellectual property investments.

This is a rather new tool in the legal toolbox of investors. While it could be fostering innovation in countries that have signed such agreements by increasing investments in R&D and intellectual property, the impact on the regulatory power of States and therefore their capacity to regulate in the public interest also has to be taken into consideration.

This research therefore aims at identifying the legal and regulatory consequences arising from the protection of intellectual property as an investment, in order to formulate policy recommendations to achieve a more balanced system for the European Union and its investors. The project will analyze the specificities of the EU legal landscape as well as the current proposals for reforming the investor-state dispute settlement system at the EU and UN level.

Expected Results:

A set of policy-oriented recommendations for enhancing social acceptability and legitimacy of EU investment agreements and the dispute settlement systems available under these agreements; guidelines on development of intellectual property norms under investment chapters of IIAs.

Planned secondment(s): ICTSD

Supervisors:

Co-supervisor: