ABSTRACT
Written for a forthcoming two volume set on Global Challenges in Intellectual Property Law: TRIPS at 30 and Beyond, this chapter explores the conflicts between the framework of the 1995 WTO TRIPS Agreement and the goals of the circular economy, which in some jurisdictions has become an embedded regulatory (or at least an aspirational component) of efforts to combat climate change. Canvassing the areas of patent, trade secret, trademark, copyright, and design law, the chapter ultimately concludes that TRIPS contains possible areas of flexibility, which a WTO Dispute Settlement Body could invoke in order to accommodate and even promote circularity objectives. The circular economy is thus an exemplar of how TRIPS pluralism might work to address global goals in addition to innovation per se, in light of the sustainability objectives broadly outlined by the UN SDGs, as well as more comprehensively coordinate the intersecting and overlapping public and private law frameworks that govern international intellectual property.
Chon, Margaret and Dreyfuss, Rochelle Cooper, Intellectual Property and the Circular Economy: Tripping Over (or Around) TRIPS? (March 8, 2026).
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