International Agreements for Intellectual Property Rights

There are a large number of international agencies and international agreements which are expected to manage intellectual property rights protection. Let us learn about few important agencies. 

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): It is a specialized UN agency established in 1967 which came into force to deal with intellectual property protection, specially patent and copyright, all over the world. It cannot effectively enforce the intellectual property rights and is considered to be toothless. 

Paris Convention: International Union for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Paris Convention, was signed in Paris in 1883. In 1989, it had 100 member states. India was not a member. Under this convention, member states must accord to nationals and residents to other member states the same advantages under their law relating to the protection of inventions, trademarks and other subjects of industrial property as they accord to their own nationals.

Berne Union: This treaty was signed in Berne in 1886. It is the international Union for the protection of literary and artistic works. Under this, members must accord the same protection to the copyrights of nationals to other nationals. It also prescribes minimum protection of 50 years. India is a party to it. 

Washington Treaty: It covers the protection of layout designs of integrated circuits. This treaty was signed in 1987. India has signed this treaty. 

Under the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, regime of intellectual property rights was negotiated under trade related intellectual property rights which became an important component of the Marrakesh Agreement. Development and enforcement of intellectual property rights regimes was removed from other international agencies and was brought under Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations under the auspices of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The inclusion of intellectual property rights in the agenda of the GATT was to not only enable negotiations set to achieve uniform and higher standards of protection and enforcement, but also empower concerned organization to take recourse to "'cross retaliation" in the goods sector to ensure compliance. The appellation "trade related aspects" is only a thin veil to confer legitimacy on the inclusion of the subject on the agenda of Uruguay Round. The USA had similarly done unilaterally under Super and Special 301 provisions of its trade laws.

TRIPS Agreement covers seven categories of intellectual property, viz., copyright and related rights, trade marks, geographical indication, industrial designs, patents (which include micro-organisms and plant varieties), integrated circuits and trade secrets. 

i) Protection will be available for 20 years for patents and for 50 years for copyrights. Patents shall be available for any invention, whether product or process, in all fields of technology. Further, patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology whether products are imported or locally produced. Patent will be available in the area of computer development and information technology. 

ii) Protection of intellectual property rights provided in the agreement will be enforced through the Common Dispute Settlement Mechanism of World Trade Organization (WTO) which provides for retaliation and cross retaliation.