Intellectual property rights protection under the WTO TRIPS Agreement

Intellectual Property Rights

Several countries while ratifying the agreement with regard to establishment of the World Trade Organization -- WTO also ratified the inherent Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. As is evident the intellectual property rights can conveniently be divided into two main fields-copyrights or rights related to copyright and industrial policy. The intellectual property rights have been guaranteed by law and the legal issues involving intellectual property rights have two dimensions. Firstly it relates to provide exclusive rights only in the sphere of copying / reproduction of the item or act safeguarded and secondly, which provide a right to deter others from doing something. The safeguard of intellectual property is considered as a crucial factor for economic growth and advancement in the high technology sector; they are beneficial to the business and assist the public as a whole. However several problems arise from the enforcement of intellectual property rights particularly with regards to ownership of information, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, design rights and plant breeders' rights for which an alternative has to be thought of.

Intellectual Property Rights

What are intellectual property rights?

The rights vested with people over their innovations and formations out of their minds are termed as intellectual property rights. Normally, such rights guarantee the formulator as a sole user for a specific period of time. (What are intellectual property rights?) Several countries while ratifying the agreement with regard to establishment of the World Trade Organization -- WTO also ratified the inherent Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights that came into force from 1st January, 1995. This provides the basic norms for protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in member countries which are felt essential to promote effective and sufficient protection of intellectual property rights with a view to reducing distortions and impediments to international trade. The obligations under the TRIPS Agreement deal with the provision of minimum standard of protection within the jurisdiction of the legal system and practices of member nations. The agreement includes norms and standards with regard to several fields of intellectual property such as, Copyrights and related rights, Trade Marks, Geographical Indications, and Industrial Designs, Lay out Designs and Integrated Circuits, Protection of Undisclosed Information -Trade Secrets, Patents, Plant varieties etc. (Intellectual property rights - Introduction)

As is evident the intellectual property rights can conveniently be divided into two main fields-copyrights or rights related to copyright and industrial policy. Firstly, the copyright and rights related to copyright incorporate the rights of authors of literary and artistic contributions in form of books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programs and films etc. which are safeguarded by copyright, at least for a period of half a century after the death of the author. The copyright also safeguards the rights of the performers like actors, singers and musicians, producers of phonograms and broadcasting agencies. The primary social objective behind such protection of copyright and related rights is to promote and reward creative work. The second category Industrial Property includes primarily two fields of operation. (What are intellectual property rights?)

One such field is demarcated as the safeguard of distinctive signs, in specific trademarks those differentiate between the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings and also the geographical indications which demarcate the good as coming out of a location where a specific characteristic of the good is particularly attributable to its geographical origin. The safeguard of such differentiated signs has an objective of stimulating and ensuring fair competition and to safeguard consumers by permitting them to make informed choices between various goods and services. The safeguard is guaranteed for an indefinite period provided the sign in question persists to be distinctive. Other forms of industrial property are safeguarded mainly to promote innovation, design and the creation of technology. Such category includes inventions safeguarded by patents, industrial designs and trade secrets. The social objective behind this is to extend safeguard for the results of investment in the development of new technology, thus providing the incentive to finance research and developmental activities. (What are intellectual property rights?)

What are the implications for business?

The safeguard of intellectual property is considered as a crucial factor for economic growth and advancement in the high technology sector. They are beneficial to the business and assist the public as a whole and acts as a mechanism for technical advancement. Patents are beneficial to the owner of the Intellectual Property and supplement the value to all industrial as well as business concerns and laboratory discoveries and as a result of this it extend incentives for private sector investment into their development. Irrespective of the fact that disadvantages sometimes outweigh their advantages the developed world has the necessary economic strength and instituted legal mechanisms to come across the problems so caused. There is a substantial enhancement in the significance of intellectual property safeguard for small and medium sized enterprises or SMEs with globalization and rapid proliferation of technology. The strong safeguard of intellectual property is felt essential to the efficacy and in some cases to the survival of the biotechnology companies. (Intellectual Property Rights- a Boon to Indian Companies)

What can/should be done?

Several problems arise from the enforcement of intellectual property rights particularly with regards to ownership of information, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, design rights and plant breeders' rights. The copyright of information sometimes leads to the privatization of publicly funded information and patents have lost its very idea of granting the exclusive right to make, use or sell the invention. It has therefore, been suggested that the intellectual properties should not be owned, as the history of science records vigorous intellectual activity is quite feasible without intellectual property. Copyright is a safeguard against plagiarism. However, the copyright is not an effective safeguard against plagiarism and therefore is thought that the most effective challenge to plagiarism is not legal action but publicity. The alternative to royalty should be thought of in terms of a salary, grant or bursary. (Against intellectual property)