Trips

Acronym for Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights - legalese for, among other things, the desire by some Trans National Corporations to patent life forms.

One of the reasons HIV/AIDS drugs are difficult for Africans to receive, even though parallel importing is acceptable in the WTO, is because Pharmaceutical Corporations are a big proponent of this agreement. Developing countries that rely on local pharmaceutical production to produce affordable medicines for their poor consumers stand to lose the most. HIV/AIDS medications made by developing countries in Africa have recently come under attack by Pharmaceutical Corporations under the WTO.

This existing agreement, set for expansion, imposes US patent rules on all WTO member nations. Several "Life Sciences" Corporations have tried to patent the plant and animal genetic resources that have been used by indigenous communities for generations. These Corporations plan to take control of these "biological and ecological commons" and charge the indigenous communities "fees."

This is a poker term oft used to describe a hand that consists of three cards of the same rank. The more common name for the hand is three of a kind. It is also called a set, but usually only in games that have a flop, like Texas Hold-Em and Omaha.