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Paper

Intellectual Property Rights as a Key Obstacle to Russia’s WTO Accession

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By Sherman Katz and Matthew Ocheltree
Published on Oct 12, 2006

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Source: Carnegie Endowment

Russia has been in the process of seeking membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) since June 1993. Currently, the United States is the only major economic power that has yet to finalize a bilateral market access agreement with the Russian Federation. Most observers of the situation concur that the enforcement of intellectual property rights laws remains, along with agriculture, one of the two major hurdles to Russian accession to the World Trade Organization.

This paper seeks to elucidate the challenges and policy options that Russia faces on enforcing intellectual property rights, highlighting lessons learned from the experiences of China and Ukraine. Its goal is to advance the United States–Russia dialogue on accession and to help achieve the kind of progress desired by all parties.

Click on icon above for the full text of this Carnegie Paper.

Sherman E. Katz is a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on WTO global trade negotiations in the Doha Round, implications of Chinese accession to the WTO, and the distribution of benefits from U.S. Free Trade Agreements.
 
Matthew Ocheltree has been a research assistant with the Trade, Equity and Development Project since February 2006.

About the Authors

Sherman Katz

Former Senior Associate

Matthew Ocheltree

Authors

Sherman Katz
Former Senior Associate
Sherman Katz
Matthew Ocheltree
CaucasusRussiaEconomyTradeForeign Policy

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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