IMPACT OF IP PROTECTION ON EXPORT TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM THE ASIA-PACIFIC FTAs

Abstract

As intellectual property (IP) rules increasingly occur in the international trade policies, the change of IP rules in the free trade agreement (FTA) shows the trend of TRIPS-plus, leading the trade friction between countries into fierce IP competition. To clarify how the IP rules influence the export trade structure and to provide theoretical and practical advice for reconstructing free trade rules on international protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), this study applies gap analysis and gravitation modeling on the 63 FTAs signed by significant economies in the Asia-Pacific region during the year 2000–2018. Finally, we find out that the sealing of the FTA IP rules would increase the proportion of IP-intensive and TM-intensive products in the total export trade. Incredibly pointed, enhancing the protection intensity is more significant for optimizing export trade structure in developed countries than in less developed countries.