On May 5, 2000, a Dispute Settlement Panel of the World Trade Organization issued its report in the U.S.–Canada dispute over Canada’s term of patent protection. The Panel essentially agreed with the U.S. that Canada’s 17-year patent protection fails to comply with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Article 33 of TRIPS requires WTO members to provide a patent protection term of at least 20 years from filing for all patents existing on January 1, 1996. Canada relied on Article 28 of the Vienna Convention, arguing that there is a presumption against retroactivity for treaties.

Review the Panel Report available on the WTO web site at www.wto.org.