International Legal Setting

IPR - INTERNATIONAL LEGAL SETTING

Intellectual property's international norms and practice are increasingly applied in the globalizing economy. Intellectual property has both national and international dimensions. For example, patents are governed by national laws and related country regulations, while international conventions on patents protect minimum rights and provide some measures for enforcement of rights by contracted states.

Strong protection for intellectual property rights (IPR) worldwide is really important for the future economic growth and development of all countries. Because they include common rules and regulations, international IPR treaties, in turn, are essential to achieving strong intellectual property protection that promotes global economic expansion and the growth of new technologies.

Role of UNO in development of IPR

UNO plays a very important role in the development and protection of IPR with the help of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which is one of the most significant and important organizations among the 16 organizations working under UNO in different sectors. WIPO aims to promote and protect IPR worldwide and to insure, utility model, mark or industrial design.

Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property

When there was no existence of any international convention in the field of industrial property, it was difficult to obtain protection for inventions in different countries of the world due to the diversity of laws. The Paris Convention is also administered by WIPO. It came into existence to provide some international harmony in intellectual property laws and was adopted on March 20, 1883, at Paris and enforced on July 7, 1884. It provides basic guidelines for the protection of intellectual property such as patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, sources of information or signs of appeal, and some provisions for harassment and national treatment of unfair competition. This treaty came into existence in India on December 7, 1998. Under the convention, in the anti-discrimination principle, a member country is empowered to grant nationals of other member countries the equal protection and advantages as it grants to its own nationals. This anti-discrimination policy of the convention is also a fundamental principle of many other intellectual property agreements and treaties.

Berne Convention (Protection of Literary and Artistic Works)

Copyright protection on the international level took its first step in the middle of the nineteenth century on the basis of bilateral treaties. India became a signatory of the Berne Convention on April 1, 1928. The need for a uniform system led to the formation of the Berne Convention for the preservation of Literary and Artistic Works. The Berne Convention is the primeval international treaty in the field of copyright. It is open to all states. Adopted on September 9, 1886, at Berne and entered into force on December 4, 1887.

The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC)

The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC), was first created in 1952 in Geneva, as an alternative to the Berne Convention. Some countries were not in favour of certain articles in the Berne Convention and did not agree to sign the terms of the Berne Convention. Particularly, the United States who was the only one at the time who provided protection on a fixed term registration basis via the Library Of Congress, and required that copyright works must always show the © symbol. This stated that the US had to make several changes to its laws before it could follow the Berne Convention.

The US finally became an official member of the Berne Convention on the 1st of March 1989, and now one only requires registration for work first published in the US by US citizens. The UCC international protection was available to authors even in countries that would not become parties to the Berne Convention.

World Intellectual Property Organisation

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization which grants worldwide protection to the rights of creators and owners of intellectual property. It was adopted on July 14, 1967, at Stockholm and enforced on April 26, 1970. WIPO came into establishment under this Convention with two main objectives:

For the promotion of the protection of intellectual property worldwide and;
to safeguard administrative cooperation among the intellectual property Unions established by the treaties which are under WIPO administration.

India became an official member of WIPO on May 1, 1975.

International treaties administered by world intellectual property organization

There are 24 international treaties which are administered by world intellectual property organization which are as follows:

Berne convention
Brussels convention
Budapest treaty
Film register treaty
Hague agreement
Libson agreement
Locarno agreement
Madrid agreement
Madrid agreement mark
Madrid protocol Nairobi treaty
Nairobi treaty
Nice agreement
Paris convention
Paris law convention
PCT
Phonograms convention
Rome convention
Singapore treaty on the law of trade mark
Strasbourg agreement
Trademark law treaty
Vienna agreement
Washington treaty
WCT
WPPT

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations held in the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”) was concluded on December 15, 1993.The agreement which established the World Trade Organization (“WTO Agreement”), was enforced on April 15, 1994, in Marrakech. For the first time the negotiations included within the GATT, discussions on aspects of intellectual property rights of international trade. The result of those negotiations, given in an Annexure of WTO Agreement was the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the “TRIPS Agreement”).

The WTO Agreement, including the TRIPS Agreement (which is binding on all WTO Members), enforced on January 1, 1995. TRIPS mainly introduced the global minimum standard for the protection and enforcing of all forms of intellectual property but it failed to specify the global minimum standard for the patent. www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/plt/

PATENT:

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
WIPO Copyright Treaty
Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations
Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorized Duplication of their Phonograms.
Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled.
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances

TRADEMARK:

Madrid - The International Trademark System
Article 6ter of the Paris Convention
Trademark Law Treaty
Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademark
Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS:

Lisbon - The International System of Appellations of Origin
Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods

DOMAIN NAMES:

World Intellectual Property Organization Domain Decisions

DESIGN:

Hague- The Industrial Design System

GENERAL:

Uruguay Round Agreement: TRIPS Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
WTO-WIPO cooperation agreement
WIPO Lex
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

CLASSIFICATION:

Vienna Agreement establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks
Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification
Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purpose of the Registration of Marks
Locarno Agreement establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs
WIPO Handbook on Industrial Property Information and Documentation.

DISPUTE SETTLEMENT:

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Domain Name Dispute Resolution

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