By: perfectp
Governments across the world have been trying to promote trade and business right from their inception, but, later on, they realized that there should be a framework that can connect the intellectual creativities and trade directly, thereby, protecting the interests of intellectuals or authors/creators. The goal was to reward those people who invest considerable resources to invent or create something that serves the society as a whole. The protection can be offered in the form of patents, trademarks, copyrights, geographical indications, trade-dresses, industrial designs etc. Let’s learn about the nitty-gritty of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
However, the major breakthrough was achieved at the Uruguay Round of meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) extending from 1986 to 1994. This Agreement was negotiated as part of the eighth round of multilateral trade negotiations in the period 1986-94 under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This is the time when TRIPS came into existence.
What are Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs)?
TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) thus are a set of standards that provide legal protection for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. All countries that are party and signatory to this agreement will have to respect the rules put-forth by this agreement. To materialize this, members were advised to make adequate amendments in their domestic IP laws to incorporate TRIPS rules. For example, as per the TRIPS, all countries will grant protection rights to patents for a period of 20 years which varied greatly among member countries before this.
Outcome of TRIPS
> All countries (party to this agreement) should grant ‘patents’ for inventions in all fields of technology provided they meet all patentability criteria.
> The tenure for the patent grant should be for a period of 20 years and should be counted from the date of priority date.
> All member countries are required to grant copyright protection to literary and artistic works automatically without needing them to register or make any such formality.
> Copyright terms should extend for at least 50 years unless based on the life of the author.
In each state, intellectual property laws may not offer any benefits to local citizens which are not available to citizens of other TRIPS signatories under the principle of national treatment (with certain limited exceptions).
> Computer programs ought to be treated as “literary works” under copyright law and should receive the same terms of protection.
> All concerned parties need to protect the legitimate interests of third parties taking into account the patent rights.
Controversies in TRIPS
The main controversy that lies in the TRIPS agreement is about paving the level of the field because there is a huge gap between the technological advancements in developed and developing countries and thus stringent IP laws can hinder their progress. To address these issues developing countries were granted some transitional period to switch them completely to TRIPS.
Another contentious issue was about providing life-saving drugs to poor countries in Africa and some developing countries. Many countries have criticized TRIPS on the grounds that it imposes various costs on developing countries such as more expensive drugs, agricultural inputs, and foreign-owned technologies and have requested exemptions in life-saving drugs.
While developed countries are concerned about the unfair use of compulsory licensing by developing countries that discourage innovation. However, the consensus has been built to provide compulsory licensing only to those drugs that are life-saving.
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