The rising importance and continuous expansion of intellectual property protection quite
naturally goes together with increasing concern about the legal and political foundations of
such enhanced protection. Nowhere does the basic equation which underlies intellectual property
namely that the pursuit of short term private interest by the holders of such property will
satisfy the public interest in the long term become both more visible but also questionable
than at the crossroads between the grant and enforcement of exclusive rights with international
trade. Catchphrases such as patent protection and access to essential medicines or access to
genetic resources benefit sharing and economic development stand for fundamental tensions and
conflicts between private property and the public interest. This book presents the
contributions that have been made on these and related topics by a group of internationally
renowned experts at a workshop held at the College of Europe Bruges.
