Intellectual Property requirements in Free Trade agreements: implications for development in Pacific Island Countries. This project investigates ways in which intellectual property laws can be used to promote development in the Pacific Island Countries. It will inform and support Australia's trade negotiations with the region in the context of Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A New Model of Economic Governance? China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) involves thousands of projects in the world, with a combined value over USD 1 trillion. Under the BRI, China is constructing new norms and legal institutions to govern international economic activity. But the opacity of the BRI means that little is known about the details of these arrangements or their operation in practice. This socio-legal project will examine how the BRI is changing th ....China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A New Model of Economic Governance? China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) involves thousands of projects in the world, with a combined value over USD 1 trillion. Under the BRI, China is constructing new norms and legal institutions to govern international economic activity. But the opacity of the BRI means that little is known about the details of these arrangements or their operation in practice. This socio-legal project will examine how the BRI is changing the way that cross-border economic interactions are governed, and explore the implications of these changes for how power and authority are exercised in the global economy. The project’s findings will equip Australian policymakers, businesses and publics to navigate more astutely the changes that the BRI is advancing.Read moreRead less
Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcom ....Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcomes include clarification of the causes and implications of these shifts and innovative understanding of the connection between national security and economic interests in investment. This new knowledge should enhance balance in investment policy and decision-making, with economic and foreign policy benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Revisiting Australia’s preferential trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties to safeguard regulatory autonomy. This project critically evaluates Australia’s free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties in the light of recent national and international experience. Its recommendations for systematically revising existing agreements and refining approaches to negotiating new agreements will assist in protecting Australian policy space.
Process matters: the new global law of intellectual property enforcement. Intellectual property (IP) enforcement can make websites disappear, cause businesses or individuals to lose internet access, plant and equipment, stop imports or freeze technological innovation. The impact of IP on businesses and individuals depends critically on how we frame remedies and enforcement processes. These legal processes are increasingly dictated by treaty. This project aims to produce a first-of-its-kind legal ....Process matters: the new global law of intellectual property enforcement. Intellectual property (IP) enforcement can make websites disappear, cause businesses or individuals to lose internet access, plant and equipment, stop imports or freeze technological innovation. The impact of IP on businesses and individuals depends critically on how we frame remedies and enforcement processes. These legal processes are increasingly dictated by treaty. This project aims to produce a first-of-its-kind legal analysis and conceptual synthesis of recent international and domestic developments in enforcement of patent, trade mark, copyright and other similar rights. The project intends to bring analytical rigour to highly polarised academic and policy discussions around the growth of international and domestic rules about IP enforcement.Read moreRead less