Is a Multilateral Agenda on Enforcement Realistic and Achievable? Grounds and Challenges for a Performing Enforcement Regime

Abstract

Intellectual property enforcement norms enable the fulfillment of substantive rights and obligations, in a weighting and balancing process that takes place in the context of the broader legal order, in a continuous dialogue with fundamental rights, competition and free trade principles. Intellectual property enforcement is a priority issue in the international intellectual property normative and institutional agenda, and it is frequently accompanied by intense technical cooperation and the use of dispute settlement procedures. Proportionality, flexibility and judicial discretion are consubstantial to traditional approaches of intellectual property enforcement and are of central relevance to respond to the challenges arising from digitalisation and the current stalemate of multilateralism. Guaranteeing an efficacious, fair and balanced enforcement is key to consider intellectual property law, law, and to enable intellectual property to fostering innovation and creativity.