Introduction-Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Intellectual property is a generic term which encompasses all expressions of human creativity. Ownership of intellectual property is usually expressed as 'intellectual property rights'. These are individual rights which result from assertion of ownership of intellectual property. In general, these are monopoly rights to use the intellectual property. There are many different ways in which rights may be asserted. Some of these are automatic, some require formal registration to achieve protection. In any case, it is for the owner of these rights to police for infringement.

The different forms are summarised as:

> Copyright
> Design rights
> Registered Trade Marks
> Patents
> Know-how

Any intellectual property rights are subject to limitations in several ways:

> rights exist for a limited period;
> rights are restricted geographically;
> rights are limited by subject matter;
> rights are potentially limited by competition and free movement requirements.

In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain names, written and recorded media, and inventions. The holders of these legal entitlements may exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect. The term implies that intellectual works are analogous to physical property and is consequently a matter of some controversy.

Intellectual property laws and enforcement vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. There are inter-governmental efforts to harmonise them through international treaties such as the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time. Disagreements over medical and software patents and the severity of copyright enforcement have so far prevented consensus on a cohesive international system.

To know more...

http://www.corporate.coventry.ac.uk/cms/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2862

World Trade Organization (WTO)

It is an international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade. The WTO came into being on January 1, 1995, and is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947, and continued to operate for almost five decades as a de facto international organization.

The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations at a near-global level; it is responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, and is in charge of policing member countries' adherence to all the WTO agreements, signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.Most of the WTO's current work comes from the 1986-94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round, and earlier negotiations under the GATT. The organization is currently the host to new negotiations, under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) launched in 2001.

The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years; a General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

To knoe more...

http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n14wto.html

Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.

Specifically, TRIPS contains requirements that nations' laws must meet for: copyright rights, including the rights of performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications, including appellations of origin; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; monopolies for the developers of new plant varieties; trademarks; trade dress; and undisclosed or confidential information. TRIPS also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.

The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the international trading system for the first time, and remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date. In 2001, developing countries concerned that developed countries were insisting on an overly-narrow reading of TRIPS, initiated a round of talks that resulted in the Doha Declaration: a WTO statement that clarifies the scope of TRIPS; stating for example that TRIPS can and should be interpreted in light of the goal "to promote access to medicines for all."

TRIPS has been criticised by the alter-globalization movement, regarding for example its consequences with regards to the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

To know more...

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/uruguay/finalact.html

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (typically abbreviated GATT) was originally created by the Bretton Woods Conference as part of a larger plan for economic recovery after World War II. The GATT's main purpose was to reduce barriers to international trade. This was achieved through the reduction of tariff barriers, quantitative restrictions and subsidies on trade through a series of different agreements. The GATT was an agreement, not an organization. Originally, the GATT was supposed to become a full international organization like the World Bank or IMF called the International Trade Organization. However, the agreement was not ratified, so the GATT remained simply an agreement. The functions of the GATT have been replaced by the World Trade Organization which was established through the final round of negotiations in the early 1990s.

The history of the GATT can be divided into three phases: the first, from 1947 until the Torquay round, largely concerned which commodities would be covered by the agreement and freezing existing tariff levels. A second phase, encompassing three rounds, from 1959 to 1979, focused on reducing tariffs. The third phase, consisting only of the Uruguay Round from 1986 to 1994, extended the agreement fully to new areas such as intellectual property, services, capital, and agriculture. Out of this round the WTO was born.

To know more...

http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/TG/PI/TRADE/gatt.html

Uruguay Round

The Uruguay Round was a trade negotiation lasting from September 1986 to April 1994 which transformed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was launched in Punta del Este in Uruguay (hence the name), followed by negotiations in Montreal, Geneva, Brussels, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo, with the 20 agreements finally being signed in Marrakech - the Marrakesh Agreement.

To know more...

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/uruguay/uraaact.html

Regards,
PP