The Institutional Fragmentation of International Intellectual Property Law in Pacific Rim: Authority and Legitimacy, Regime Interaction and Future Institutional Development in a 'World Society'

Abstract

Under the context of institutional fragmentation of international IP law in this world society, the international IP law in Pacific Rim is in a flux with various international IP legal actors, including TRIPS, WIPO, CBD, TPP, RECP, FTAAP, etc. With the method of socio-legal analysis emphasizing and basing itself on authority and legitimacy, interaction of IP regimes and future institutional development, this paper investigates the historical evolution of international IP regimes in Pacific Rim and their interactions, paying particular attention to the analysis of two concepts (authority and legitimacy) onto those international IP regimes and their competitive gaming. The present literatures have shed light on some inter-institutional interactions and forum competitions in some subfields of international law (like International Law of the Sea, International Environmental Protection, International Fishery Regulation) as well as some international IP regimes and normative rules specifically, with some descriptive, analytical and interpretative insights unfolded, notwithstanding the lack of deep-going studies focusing on the evolutionary changes and regime competition contextualized from a systematic and structural perspective. After the examination of the current configuration of international IP legal regimes in the Pacific Rim, the core research questions hereinto consist of: how this “institutional fragmentation” would affect the authority and legitimacy of international IP legal regimes and subsequently the international law-making process in international IP law; and what kinds of further implications for future institutional development of international IP law can be deduced. Then predictable trends on the institutional developments and its fragmentation of Pacific Rim’s international IP law, mainly driven forward by China and US, could be deduced.