Power and innovative capacity: Explaining variation in intellectual property rights regulation across trade agreements

Abstract

The extent to which intellectual property rights (IPRs) are regulated varies strongly across preferential trade agreements (PTAs). What explains this variation? We argue that deep IPRs are mainly found in PTAs characterized by large differences in power and innovative capacity across member states. Computational text analysis on the IPR sections included in 467 PTAs signed between 1994 and 2020 allows us to test our expectation. The results show that, indeed, power asymmetries combined with asymmetries in innovative capacity drive deep IPR provisions. Our account adjusts the conventional wisdom that sees the developed North forcing IPRs on the developing South in a subtle but important way. In fact, we find that the internationalization of IPR regulation is not just driven by countries that form part of the traditional Global North.