A Story of Convergence of IPR Regimes: The IPR Chapter in the China-Korea Free Trade Agreement

The signature of the free trade agreement between China and Korea (China-Korea FTA) on 1 June 2015 marked the first of this type in North-eastern Asia. Noteworthy is that Chapter 15 thereof, which has 31 articles, is dedicated to intellectual property rights (IPR). The IPR chapter covers general principles, copyright and related rights, trademarks, patents and utility model, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, plant variety protection, undisclosed information, and industrial design. This paper examines the IPR provisions in the China-Korea FTA against the background of the evolving international regime for IPR protection and particularly the IPR provisions in the existing FTAs which China has concluded and those Korea has concluded respectively, and then provides a critical evaluation of the IPR provisions in the China-Korea FTA. It argues that China-Korea FTA is a result of the convergence of various IPR regimes that both countries are shaping separately or jointly, and may serve as a model for upcoming FTAs.