IPR: Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

 

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. A new organization was established by the former agreement known as the World Trade Organization, which came into force from January 1, 1995. Member States of WTO were granted a specific period of time after the enforcement of the agreement establishing the WTO before being obligated to apply the TRIPS Agreement. Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the most global and essential international agreement on intellectual property rights. The member countries of the WTO are automatically binded by the agreement. The agreement consists of most of the forms of intellectual property like patents, copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, geographical indications, industrial designs, and exclusionary rights over new plant varieties. 

TRIPS proved to be one of the most important agreements to promote intellectual property at the international level. 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. The main object of the trade related aspect of intellectual property is to promote effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights and ensuring that measures and procedures to enforce intellectual property rights do not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade. 

Issues covered by the TRIPS

·         What basic principles of the trading system and other international intellectual property agreements should be applied. 

·         How to give adequate protection to intellectual property rights.

·         How countries should enforce those rights adequately in their own territories.

·         How to settle disputes on intellectual property between members.

·         How will be the special transitional arrangements during the period when the new system is being introduced.

Features of the TRIPS 

There are three main feature of the TRIPS agreement which are as follows: 

·         Standard: The main element of TRIPs is to protect the subject matter.

·         Enforcement: The second element is about domestic procedure and remedies, provisional measure specially related to border measure. 

·         Dispute settlement: The agreement makes dispute between world trade organization members arising with respect to the trade related aspect of intellectual property obligation subject to the world trade organization dispute settlement procedure. 

Obligations under TRIPS Agreement 

The TRIPS agreement outlines various important business-related aspects of intellectual property. In particular, this requires Member States to follow their own criteria for intellectual property monopoly grants for limited period along with adherence to the Paris Agreement, the Berne Convention and other WTO conventions. The norms are the minimum standards for granting monopolies over any kind of IP, as well as duration limits, enforcement provisions, and methods of IP dispute settlement. When the TRIPS agreement was enforced on 1 January 1995, all developed countries were given twelve months from the date of signing the agreement to implement its provisions. Developing countries and transition economies (under certain conditions) were granted five years until 2000. As of 2006, least developed countries (LDCs) were given 11 years to comply. Some countries have indicated that the long term should be achieved. For pharmaceutical patents in these LDCs, the compliance period was extended to 2016.

The Most Favored-Nation Principle (MFN)

The TRIPS Agreement contains the most favored nation doctrine, which has not traditionally been provided in the context of intellectual property rights at the multilateral level. This doctrine provides that any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted to the citizens of any other country shall be immediately unconditional to all other members (whether or not a member) with a specified exemption. As is the case for national remedies, the procedures provided in the multilateral agreements discussed under the aegis of the WIPO relating to the acquisition or maintenance of intellectual property rights are exempt from this principle.

Conclusion

These agreements provide a minimum standard for the enforcement of IPR that allows right holders to protect their legitimate interests through civil court or administrative proceedings. Part III of the Agreement on the Enforcement of IPR sets out the obligations of Member States to establish administrative and judicial mechanisms through which IPR holders can seek effective protection of their interests. The general obligation of member states to provide enforcement mechanisms requires that the enforcement process be available under their national law to allow effective action against any act of violation of the IPR covered by these agreements, including immediate measures to prevent violations and remedies are included. Member nations are obligated to safeguard that enforcement procedures are “fair and equitable”, and “not unnecessarily complex or costly, or prevent unreasonable deadlines or unreasonable delays.”