TDM Call for Papers on: "The Unresolved Relationship between IIAs and IPRs - Squaring the Circle or the Search for the Proper Balance Between the Efficient Protection of Foreign Investments and the State's Freedom to Regulate in the Public Interest"

1 June 2026

We are pleased to announce a forthcoming Transnational Dispute Management (TDM, ISSN 1875-4120, www.transnational-dispute-management.com) special issue on "The unresolved relationship between International Investments Agreements (IIAs) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) - Squaring the circle or the search for the proper balance between the efficient protection of foreign investments and the state's freedom to regulate in the public interest". This Special Issue will be edited by Prof. Dr. Markus Perkams (Addleshaw Goddard) and Professor Christopher Gibson (Suffolk University Law School)

This call for papers can also be found on the TDM website:
https://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news.asp?key=2130

International investment law has come into troubled waters since we published the first TDM Special Issue on IIAs and IPRs back in 2009.[1] One often overlooked aspect of the "right to regulate" debate rightly quoted as one of the core reasons for the turmoil surrounding the protection of foreign investments is the uncertainty - or the fear - caused by the inclusion of IPRs such as patents or trademarks in the scope of investment treaties and the possible impact on the ability of states to regulate in the public interest resulting therefrom.

With this new Second Special Issue on IIAs and IPRs we want to shed fresh light on the relationship between investment protection and intangible property rights and explore the various facets of this debate by bringing together the expertise of scholars and practitioners from both the world of IPRs and the field of IIAs.

Topics

Topics to be covered could include: an overview of the many forms of IPRs; their relevance for international investments; or the specific challenges raised by, or threats requiring their inclusion in IIAs. Topics could also include a stocktaking of the origins of the protection of IPRs by international investment law; a review of the existing case law; or an investigation of the various approaches taken in investment treaties, with a particular focus on new solutions adopted in modern treaties reflecting the lessons learned from the reform debates of the last decade. Lastly, we also welcome publications on policy perspectives from the respective stakeholders, reaching from business perspectives on the need to offer efficient protection for the sometimes most valuable assets of a company to the views of civil societies and those fearing the risks of extended scope of protection for IPRs and future regulations for example in the field of public health resulting from a possibly overly broad level of protection for IPRs in the international investment law field. Ultimately, and needless to say, this outline is not exclusive and that we encourage all contributions addressing parts of the yet unexplored and sometimes thorny relationship between IIAs and IPRs.

Submissions

We invite all those with an interest in the subject to contribute articles or notes on one of the above topics or any other relevant issue. Proposals for papers (150-200 words) should be submitted to the editors at your earliest convenience - publication is planned for Q2 of 2027.

Please address all questions and proposals to the editors and CC info@transnational-dispute-management.com when submitting your materials.

Articles accepted for publication before this deadline will also go through TDM's on-line advance publication process, allowing your work to reach its target audience as soon as the paper completes peer review and the editing process.

Guest Editors

Submission Guidelines

The minimum word count for articles is 5,000 words (excluding footnotes, endnotes, appendices, tables, summary etc.). Articles must include a short summary of the key points addressed and any conclusions drawn (150-200 words).

The layout of the articles should conform to TDM's submission guidelines, available at: www.transnational-dispute-management.com/contribute.asp (more information available upon request).

For citations, please follow OSCOLA (4th Edition): www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/publications/oscola

Feel free to forward this call for papers to colleagues who may be interested in contributing to the special issue.

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