The purpose of this article is to analyse how developments after the Doha Declaration went wrong; how developing countries can best be helped by IPR legislation; and whether such help can be achieved without taking away the incentives for industry to develop medicines. It is submitted that a legal framework maintaining the global protection of IPRs is needed, especially in developed countries, but that such a framework must allow for compulsory licensing in separate, regional “generic markets”, and must further create effective barriers for (re-)import into other countries than those targeted by the compulsory licence. This proposal would create a large market currently unused, in which pharmaceuticals could be produced and sold more cheaply, while protecting developed countries from importation of generic drugs. This way, compulsory licensing should work as a tool to promote innovation whilst also protecting public health globally.
