The closing decade of the 20th century witnessed the emergence of a WTO ‘supercourt’ having the power to review states’ intellectual property legislation. This article challenges the use of law as an instrument of global economic integration without a commensurate growth in legitimacy and public accountability to accompany the process. The recent case of United States and India—Patent Protection for Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Chemical Products provides a focal point for an analysis of key issues of legitimacy in the dispute resolution process. The article concludes that matters would be best remedied with an appropriate theoretical model in mind. To this end, having reviewed various models of trade legalism, the author endorses the stakeholder model as best suited to underpin the necessary reforms.