International Intellectual Property and the ASEAN Way: Pathways to Interoperability

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is actively seeking ways for member countries to enhance their individual economic development within the context of overall regional advancement. Central to this is the creation of a regional intellectual property framework. This book examines the efforts to move beyond sovereign protections of intellectual property rights and establish meaningful inter-state cooperation on intellectual property issues. Rather than aim for IP harmonization, ASEAN recognizes its internal diversity and pursues an agenda of 'IP Interoperability'. The essays in this collection examine the unique dynamics of 'interoperability', analyzing the administration of intellectual property in a part of the world that is of increasing importance. The book enables the reader to compare and contrast the ASEAN model to other approaches in regional cooperation, such as Europe and Latin America, and also explores private international law as a potential vehicle for interoperability.

Elizabeth Siew-Kuan Ng is Deputy Chairwoman and Director of the Intellectual Property Unit at the Centre for Law and Business, and Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore's Law School. She was appointed amicus curiae by the Singapore Court of Appeal on IP matters and is an IP Adjudicator of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. She is a Barrister-at-law of Middle Temple (England) and Advocate and Solicitor (Supreme Court, Singapore). A Fellow of Cambridge Commonwealth Society, she was a consultant of the World Intellectual Property Organization (Switzerland).

Graeme W. Austin is Professor of Law at Melbourne University with a joint appointment as Chair of Private Law at Victoria University of Wellington. He is co-author of the pathbreaking text, Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping the Global Interface (Cambridge, 2011). Before returning to Australasia in 2011, he was the J. Byron McCormick Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, where he convened the intellectual property programme. He is a former Member of the New Zealand Copyright Tribunal.