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This paper aims to analyse the impacts of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) as adopted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the pharmaceutical regulation and pricing of drugs in Bangladesh. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Bangladesh could adjust obligations for patent and pharmaceutical law reforms in the context of TRIPS Agreement while maintaining societal goals to ensure access to medicines. Another prime objective of this study is to examine viability of arguments regarding pharmaceutical patents for affordability and accessibility of pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh.

This paper used doctrinal research and case study using surveys and interviews in Bangladesh to understand the perceptions of different stakeholders regarding TRIPS and possible impacts on the local pharmaceutical industry and also consequences as to access to pharmaceuticals in terms of pricing, availability and affordability.

This study suggests that in the case of Bangladesh, the main health bottleneck is not patents or any drugs, but the lack of proper healthcare service, health infrastructure and lack of efficient healthcare personnel. Again, most of the necessary drugs for the local market are off patent, but patented drugs, issues of price, availability and affordability could become a concern for Bangladesh in situation of multi-drug resistance and for diseases like HIV AIDS, cancer and cardio-vascular problems.

This study was based on randomly selected interview and surveys. To get a broader picture of the impacts of TRIPS compliant patent law and pharmaceutical patents in a country like Bangladesh, more in-depth socio-legal studies need to be conducted. Due to shortage of time and resources, it was not possible to conduct broader socio-legal studies; therefore, this study may not reflect views of all related stakeholders.

This paper will guide how countries like Bangladesh could adopt intellectual property policies for pharmaceuticals in a way not only adjusting societal goals for accessibility and affordability of pharmaceuticals but also promoting innovation and capability of local industries.

Countries like Bangladesh should adopt intellectual property policies balancing not only investment and innovation side but also societal goals to ensure access to medicines for the vast majority of poor populations.

This study is an original study based on primary sources as collected during field studies in Bangladesh. It also used doctrinal research, and related materials are duly referred.

This paper aims to evaluate how critical thinking be integrated in intellectual property (IP) law teaching.

It used doctrinal methods based on existing pedagogical scholarship in the field of effective teaching and learning at the university level.

It demonstrated how the use of critical thinking in IP law education could facilitate deeper understanding of IP law issues from different socio-economic, environmental, historical and political dimensions.

It is yet to be tested for practical application in other jurisdictions and students having background from diverse socio-economic and cultural settings.

The application of critical thinking in IP law could help students to apply IP law from practical perspectives to meet societal objectives and business interests as well.

This will facilitate in broader societal understanding in using IP law to achieve sustainable development goals.

Till date, little work has been undertaken on the use of critical thinking in IP law teaching. Therefore, this study tried to make a unique contribution to incorporate critical thinking in IP law education.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate to what extent the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have supported (or could support) the least developed countries (LDCs) particularly for accessing the climate technologies and thereby to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

This study adopted legal dogmatism to evaluate the gradual development of technology transfer issues to support the LDCs under the international climate regime.

This study suggested a few potential measures to facilitate meaningful technology transfer to LDCs – such as clarifying and linking the role of the technology and financial mechanism, a more robust role of capacity building, using the sustainable development mechanism with a technology transfer focus, improving the transparency and reporting mechanism to particularly indicate support regarding technology transfer requested and received by the LDCs linking it with the nationally determined contributions, and adapting a pragmatic approach to intellectual property.

This study is an original contribution as it identified concern over technology transfer under the UNFCCC since 1992 with a focus on the LDCs and indicated required actions that need to be taken to support the LDCs in the context of climate-related technology transfer and beyond.

This paper aims to examine how Sweden, as a member state of the European Union (EU), has implemented the EU Directive on Public Access to Environmental Information (AEI directive) in the context of the principles of good administration.

This paper adopts the EU law methodology, as this paper mainly examines the implementation of the EU AEI directive by the member states and, as an EU member state, how Sweden used procedural autonomy to implement the EU directive at the national level. The EU law methodology further guides how national laws are to be interpreted considering obligations under the EU law. This paper further applies a comparative review to determine the differences in the approaches used by the AEI directive and relevant Swedish national laws to facilitate access to environmental information.

Despite Sweden used a minimalist approach rather than maximal harmonization while implementing the AEI directive at the national level, the Swedish model of the accessibility and availability of environmental information is fully compliant with the principles of good administration. The Swedish approach has an enormous effect on promoting access to environmental information as an integral part of good governance and fundamental rights.

It was not possible to perform a comparative review of court cases on relevant issues from different EU member states.

Access to environmental information could be a tool for environmental democracy and sustainable development.

Access to environmental information could contribute to more public engagement and participation in environmental decision making and hence could make developmental projects more inclusive to meet societal objectives.

This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating access to environmental information in the context of the principles of good administration under EU law.

This paper aims to identify the threshold concept in intellectual property (IP) law.

It used doctrinal methods for such identification based on the existing pedagogical scholarship in the field of effective teaching and learning.

It explained how the use of the threshold concept in IP law education could facilitate understanding of IP law from globalised perspectives and validate use of IP in a balanced way.

It is yet to be tested for practical curriculum design in different jurisdictions.

The understanding of threshold concepts in IP law could generate “eureka” moments, when, after a long struggle, students come to a deep understanding of a new concept.

This will facilitate social acceptance of IP for balancing global obligation and national developmental and social goals.

Till date, little work has been undertaken on the threshold concepts on IP law. Therefore, this study tried to make a unique contribution by identifying threshold concepts in intellectual property law.