In the 1980s, neo-liberal policy advocating Hayek’s market economy began to replace fifty years of Keynesian economics.  The globalization of financial markets and the belief in free trade promoted by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher led to the reduction of state power and the rise of transnational corporate control of global markets.  Governmental deregulation of finance and trade, and the privatization of many public institutions, shifted power away from the foundation of democratic society – the people – to a small group of corporate shareholders who now control much of the world’s wealth.  Corporations have only one purpose: to increase profits for their shareholders.  They have little allegiance or concern for the common good, the poor and dispossessed, or the environment, except to the extent that addressing those concerns might bolster their bottom line.

One important way that corporations protect their profits is through international property rights legislation.  There is a long history of businesses bringing pressure to bear upon governments to draft IPR legislation.  During the neo-liberal period, from 1978 to 2008, corporations enjoyed unprecedented support from government.  At the request of transnational firms, the U.S. pressured developing countries to adopt and enforce international property policies aimed at preventing piracy and the loss of billions of dollars in trade.

In 1986, a U.S.-based Intellectual Property Rights Committee was established, composed of CEOs from the pharmaceutical, entertainment, and software industries, including Bristol-Meyers, CBS, DuPont, GE, GM, HP, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Monsanto, and Phizer.  They were interested in the creation and enforcement of a new global IPR accord, which would protect their global trade empires.  Their immense wealth and power allowed them to identify the problem, devise a solution, draft a concrete proposal, and "sell" it at the highest levels of government.  One successful early measure achieved amendments to the US. Trade and Tariff Act, prompting other corporate groups in Europe and Japan to follow suit.

In 1988, their proposal was presented to the GATT Secretariat for consideration, and by 1994 the IPC realized its aims when the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was ratified at the Uruguay trade round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks.  GATT succeeded in reducing external barriers to free trade by cutting tariffs and reducing border impediments, while TRIPS focuses on internal barriers to free trade, specifically IPRs.