The North American Free Trade Agreement and Its Legacy on the Resolution of Intellectual Property Disputes

This essay focuses on NAFTA and the contributions that this regional trade pact made to protect IPR and settle intellectual property (IP) disputes. It also explores the legacy of NAFTA in the context of the eventual WTO, and the rights provided by the TRIPS Agreement that was concluded as part of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations. Section II provides a brief historical background on how NAFTA fit into the world as countries began aligning themselves by creating various trade agreements. Section III surveys the provisions and legacy of NAFTA with respect to IPR, and the lack of real progress in the resolution of disputes using NAFTA\u27s pioneering independent arbitration process. Next, section IV of this essay looks to the manner in which Mexico has attempted to comply with NAFTA. Section V of this essay examines NAFTA\u27s legacy for the rest of the Americas, and section VI concludes with a discussion on how NAFTA can further improve the protection of IPR in the future