Intellectual property protection has become a very important issue in international economic relations. Developed countries are increasingly treating intellectual property rights as a precondition for meaningful trade negotiations with developing countries, as exemplified by the recent trade dispute between the United States and the People's Republic of China. The recognition of the growing importance of intellectual property also led to the inclusion of this issue in negotiations during the Uruguay Round of GATT, which subsequently led to the signing of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to commit to the protection of intellectual property among member states.
The issue of intellectual property rights is not limited to governments and important regional organizations have also paid attention to this issue. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of these organizations. In this article, an attempt is made to investigate the issue of intellectual property rights in the ASEAN organization by using the qualitative research method with a process research approach. The question that will be answered is, what has been ASEAN's approach to the issue of intellectual property rights, and what have been the results and achievements?
The findings showed that although ASEAN has pursued the protection of intellectual property in line with the liberalization of trade and investment through the free trade zone, it should be able to achieve a fair and just exchange with its business partners and investors. through efforts to promote and strengthen the protection of intellectual property and has a long way to go in the field of full realization of intellectual property rights because according to international comparative indicators, the strength, scope and efficiency of the intellectual property framework in Malaysia Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines are still far below the highest global standards.