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14 Asian J. WTO & Int'l Health L & Pol'y 115 (2019)
Plainly Justifiable? The World Trade Organization's Ruling on the Validity of Australia's "Plain Packaging" under Article 20 of the TRIPS Agreement

handle is hein.journals/aihlp14 and id is 117 raw text is: 














PLAINLY JUSTIFIABLE? THE WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION'S RULING ON THE VALIDITY
     OF AUSTRALIA'S PLAIN PACKAGING
         UNDER ARTICLE 20 OF THE TRIPS
                       AGREEMENT





                       Alice Maxwell*




                           ABSTRACT

        In June 2018, the World Trade Organization published its
    decision on Australia's plain packaging legislation. A key
    element of the decision concerned Article 20 of the Agreement on
    Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS
    Agreement). For the first time, a Panel has elaborated on the
    applicable standard of justification for encumbrances on the use of
    trademarks in aid of societal objectives. The balancing test
    proposed by the Panel requires consideration of both the stated
    objective and the extent of the encumbrance. This case-by-case
    approach, however, provides no bright-line standard of validity.
    There remains considerable uncertainty around the legitimate scope
    of state regulation under Article 20 and the viability of measures
    that, while not strictly necessary, appear nevertheless to be
    'justifiable. 


KEYWORDS: plain packaging, public health, trade, TRIPS Article 20,
intellectual property, trademarks, justifiability, proportionality


. Juris Doctor candidate, University of Melbourne. The author can be reached at:
maxwella4( @gmail.com.

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