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International Instruments On IPR

The TRIPS Agreement establishes international standards for intellectual property rights like copyrights, patents, and trademarks. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round in 1994 to bring IPR into the international trading system. TRIPS requires WTO members to provide strong enforcement mechanisms for IPR and sets minimum standards and enforcement procedures that countries must adopt in their national laws. Disputes regarding TRIPS obligations can be resolved through the WTO dispute settlement system.

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296 views15 pages

International Instruments On IPR

The TRIPS Agreement establishes international standards for intellectual property rights like copyrights, patents, and trademarks. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round in 1994 to bring IPR into the international trading system. TRIPS requires WTO members to provide strong enforcement mechanisms for IPR and sets minimum standards and enforcement procedures that countries must adopt in their national laws. Disputes regarding TRIPS obligations can be resolved through the WTO dispute settlement system.

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Drishti Tiwari
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TRADE RELATED ASPECT

OF INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS
(TRIPS)
• After the Uruguay round, the GATT became the basis for the establishment
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995
• WTO was established to supervise and liberalize trade.
• The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade
Organization.
• It was formed at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.
• The TRIPS Agreement is Annex 1C of the Marrakesh Agreement
Establishing the World Trade Organization ("WTO Agreement") of 15 April
1994, which entered into force on 1 January 1995. The TRIPS Agreement is
an integral Part of the WTO Agreement, and is binding on each Member of
the WTO from the date the WTO Agreement becomes effective for that
country.
• TRIPS is the most important and comprehensive international
agreement on Intellectual Property rights.
• The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the
international trading system for the first time.
• Adoption of TRIPS is a compulsory requirement of World Trade
Organization membership.
• Any country seeking to obtain easy access to the numerous
international markets opened by the World Trade Organization must
enact the strict intellectual property laws mandated by TRIPS.
• There are now 153 WTO member nations and 29 observer nations
• When the TRIPs Agreement took effect on January 1, 1995, all
developed countries were given twelve months from the date of
signing the agreement to implement its provisions.
• Developing countries and transition economies (under certain
conditions) were given five years, until 2000.
• Least developed countries (LDCs) were given 11 years, until 2006, to
comply.
• For pharmaceutical patents in these LDCs, the term for compliance
has been extended to 2016.
• There are currently 30 LDCs within the WTO organization bound by
TRIPs and another 10 LDCs are waiting accession.
What is TRIPS?

• TRIPS is the Agreement on Trade-


Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights, Including Trade in
Counterfeit Goods.
Why TRIPS?
• Reason 1: Intellectual property had become important in international trade
relations
• Reason 2: Existing conventions in the IP field lacked efficient enforcement
provisions against counterfeiting and piracy.
TRIPS- How it works?
Standards
• The Agreement sets out the minimum standards of protection to be provided by
each Member. Each of the main elements of protection is defined, namely the
subject-matter to be protected,
• the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions to those rights, and the
minimum duration of protection.
Enforcement
• The second main set of provisions deals with domestic procedures and remedies
for the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
• It lays down certain general principles applicable to all IPR enforcement
procedures.
TRIPS- How it works?
• provisions on civil and administrative procedures and remedies,
provisional measures, special requirements related to border
measures and criminal procedures, for the right holders to enforce
their rights.
Dispute Settlement
• The Agreement makes, disputes between WTO Members about the
respect of the TRIPS obligations subject to the WTO's dispute
settlement procedures.
Main Provisions on Patents
Section 5, Part II contains the following standards:
1) Patents shall be granted for any inventions, whether products or processes, provided
they are new, involve an inventive step, & are capable of industrial application.
2) Patents shall be granted in all fields of technology. No discrimination is allowed with
respect to the place of invention, or based on whether the products are locally-
produced or imported.
3) Members can exclude from patentability diagnostic, therapeutic, & surgical methods
of treatment for humans or animals, as well as plants & animals & biological process
for the production thereof.
4) Plant varieties shall be protected by patents, an effective sui generis regime, or a
combination of both
5) The term of protection shall be at least 20 years from the date of application
Main Provisions on Copyrights
1) Protection of works covered by the Berne Convention, excluding
moral rights to the expression but not the ideas, procedures,
methods of operation, or mathematical concepts as such.
2) Protection of computer programs as literary works & of
compilations of data.
3) Recognition of the 50 year minimum exclusivity term for works
owned by juridical persons.
Main Provisions on Trademarks
1) Definition of protected signs, e.g., those capable of distinguishing the goods or services of
one undertaking from those of other undertakings. Service marks receive protection
equivalent to that for marks for goods.
2) Registrability, but not filing of an application, can be dependent on use.
3) Protection of well-known TMs for goods & services, including if knowledge thereon is
acquired through their promotion.
4) Exceptions to exclusivity must be limited & take into account the legitimate interests of
the TM owner & of third parties.
5) The minimum term of protection is 7 years, indefinitely renewable.
6) Requirements for use are to be limited in terms of both the minimum period of non-use &
the admissibility of reasons therefor.
7) A TM may be assigned without transfer of the business.
8) Measures to combat trade in counter-feiting products should be available at the border.
Provisions on Industrial Designs
1) Protection should be conferred on designs which are new or
original.
2) Exclusive rights can be exercised against acts for commercial
purposes, including importation.
3) The minimum term of protection is 10 years.
Provisions for Geographical Indications
WTO Members are obligated under TRIPS Art. 22.2
1) to provide legal means for interested parties to prevent:
• * use of any means in the designation or presentation of a good that indicates or
suggests that the good in question originates in a geographical area other than
the true place of origin in a manner that misleads the public as to its true origin; or
• * any use that constitutes an act of unfair competition within the meaning of
Paris Convention of 1967.
2) Members are also required to refuse or invalidate registration of a TM that
contains or consists of a geographical indication with respect to goods not
originating in the territory indicated, if it would mislead the public as to the true
place of origin.
TRIPS: Dispute settlement.
Why provisions on dispute settlement ?
Reason: when states were in breach international IP conventions the
only remedy was referral to the International Court of Justice in the
Hague.
TRIPS system: prevention of disputes through provisions on
transparency settlement of disputes through panel procedures and
decisions and trade sanctions in case decisions are not adhered to.
TRIPS: Dispute settlement
Steps:
1) Consultations
2) Panel and Panel Reports
3) Possibly recourse to Standing Appellate Body
4) DSB decision on Panel Report
5) Suspension of concessions (trade sanctions).

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