Sanjay Kumar

Emerged from the ashes of the Havana Charter

The General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) was signed October, 1947 and came into force from January, 1948 It has been signed by 92 government including India It had a permanent council of representative with head quarter at Geneva. on

To follow MFN principal Carry out trade on the principal of non discrimination, reciprocity and transparency To grant protection to domestic industry through tariffs only To liberalize tariff and non tariff measures through multilateral negitiation

MFN Schedules of Tariff Concessions General Elimination of quantitative restrictions Emergency safeguard Exceptions Subsidies and countervailing duties Settlement of disputes

Different rounds of GATT of global trade negotiation(Geneva-1947,Annecy, France-1949, Torquay,England-1950, Geneva-1955,62,67 , Tokyo1973-79,Uruguay-1986-1994(Dunkel Draft Text) Negotiation were held on 15 important areas and finally reshuffled into seven areas which included: Agriculture, textile, GATS, Rule making, TRIMS&TRIPS, Dispute settlement and market access

WTO Came into existence on 1-1-1995 with the conclusion of Uruguay Round Multilateral Trade Negotiations at Marrakesh on 15th April 1994
The WTO has 153 members, representing more than 97% of total world trade and 30 observers governed by a ministerial conference, meeting 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 is at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland.

It oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements It provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes Additionally, it is the WTO's duty to review and propagate the national trade policies, and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making.[ Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, leastdeveloped and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training. The WTO is also a center of economic research and analysis: regular assessments of the global trade picture in its annual publications and research reports on specific topics are produced by the organization. Finally, the WTO cooperates closely with the two other components of the Bretton Woods system, the IMF and the World Bank.

Non-Discrimination Reciprocity Binding and enforceable commitments Transparency Safety valves

The WTO oversees about 60 different agreements which have the status of international legal texts Agreement on Agriculture , General Agreement on Trade in Services, Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, Agreement on Customs Valuation etc. are some of the broad groups.

is an international agreement administered by the WTO that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members. It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the GATT in 199 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.

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Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognised-and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.
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Modern usage of the term intellectual property goes back at least as far as 1888 with the founding in Bern of the Swiss Federal Office for Intellectual Property The organisation subsequently relocated to Geneva in 1960, and was succeeded in 1967 with the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) by treaty as an agency of the United Nations.

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The history of patents does not begin with inventions, but rather with royal grants by Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) for monopoly privileges. Approximately 200 years after the end of Elizabeth's reign, however, a patent represents a legal [right] obtained by an inventor providing for exclusive control over the production and sale of his mechanical or scientific invention... [demonstrating] the evolution of patents from royal prerogative to common-law doctrine.

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Intellectual property rights are the recognition of a property in an individual creation. Intellectual property rights are usually limited to non-rival goods, that is, goods which can be used or enjoyed by many people simultaneouslythe use by one person does not exclude use by another. This is compared to rival goods, such as clothing, which may only be used by one person at a time. For example, any number of people may make use of a mathematical formula simultaneously.

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 To reduce distortions and impediments to international trade and take into account the need to promote competent as well as adequate protection of IPRs To ensure that measures and procedures to enforce IPRs do not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade To reduce tensions by reaching strengthened commitment to resolve disputes on trade-related IP issues through multilateral procedures To establish a mutually supportive relationship between the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

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Non-discrimination features prominently in TRIPS, similar to GATT and GATS,by following principles of: National Treatment (Article 3): Equal treatment for foreign and domestic individuals and companies Most Favoured Nation (Article 4): Equal treatment for nationals of all trading partners in the WTO TRIPS Agreement has additional important principle: Intellectual property protection should contribute to technical innovation and transfer of technology

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 Respects the standards and complies with the multilateral conventions administered by WIPO Incorporation of explicit provision of various conventions in WIPO into TRIPS agreement allows WTO panels to interpret them

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 Member countries must create office and operate governmental offices for the acquisition and maintenance of IPRs Procedures for granting and registration of IPR must be reasonable Member country's law must provide for opposition, revocation and cancellation Member country may adopt measures to protect public health and the public interest

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Copyright grants exclusive rights to the creator of original scientific, artistic and literary works Original is key in defining a work that qualifies for copyright protection The term of protection Countries to confine limitations or exceptions to exclusive rights to certain special cases which do not conflict with exploitation of the work and not prejudicial to right holder

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Trademark protects any word, name, logo or device used to identify, distinguish or indicate the source of goods or services Includes trade dress (the total image and overall appearance of a product) and product configuration (the shape if non functional) The purpose is to safeguard the integrity of products and to prevent product confusion and unfair competition The term of protection (initial registration and each renewal of registration of a trademark shall be for a term of no less than 7 years)

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 GIs are denominations that identify a good as originating in a region or locality, where the reputation and quality of good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin (for example: Darjeeling tea of India) TRIPS prohibits the use of GIs in such a way as to cause deception and provides for injunctive relief, refusal of trademark registration, etc Exceptions such as Countries are not obliged to bring a geographical indication under protection, where it has become a generic term for describing the product in question The term of protection
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Protects the artistic aspect (namely, texture, pattern, shape) of an object instead of the technical features The term of protection (amount to at least 10 years) Amount to allow the term to be divided into two periods (for example two periods of five years) The third party is prohibited from making, selling or importing articles bearing a design which is a copy of the protected design, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes Exception: optional mandate, if introduced then such exceptions do not unreasonably conflict with the normal exploitation of protected industrial designs and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the owner of the protected design
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The TRIPS Agreement requires Member countries to make patents available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology without discrimination, subject to novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability Invention to be novel,useful and non-obvious The agreement allows countries to exclude inventions from patentability on following grounds: Inventions necessary to protect ordre public or morality; including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment

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Diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals Plants and animals other than micro-organisms and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes Limited Exceptions Compulsory Licensing The term of protection (for a period of 20 years counted from the filing date)

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It refers to mask works (topographies) of the integrated circuits, the stencils used to etch or encode an electrical circuit on a semiconductor chip Protection conferred to original layoutdesign/topographies Exclusive rights include the right of reproduction and the right of importation, sale and other distribution for commercial purposes The term of protection (ten years form the date of first commercial exploitation)
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 The protection must apply to information that is secret, that has commercial value because it is secret and that has been subject to reasonable steps to keep it secret Trade secrets consist of formulae, patterns, process or compilation of information. (for example the formula for a sports drink) In most countries, they are not subject to registration but are protected through laws against unfair competition

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Exploit the IPR himself License the IPR to another party (s) with mutually negotiated benefit sharing arrangements Cross License for mutually independent working and / or collaborative working Assign the IPR to another party (s) for an appropriate return Barter rights Establish a franchise system involving other parties Take action against those who infringe his rights Let the rights selectively lapse in certain countries

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Two main competing theories: Universal or international exhaustion theory: An IPR holders right are exhausted on the first sale of the protected product anywhere in the world Domestic or territorial exhaustion theory: The right holders IP are not exhausted until after the first sale of the product in the territory in which he holds the rights The resolution of exhaustion issues is left to national laws and there are are no international or customary law norms in this area

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 Standards: The agreement expresses minimum standards of protection (I) The subject matter to be protected (II) The rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions (III) The minimum period of protection Enforcement (I) Provisions for domestic procedure and remedies for the enforcement of the IPRs (II) Includes general principle applicable to IPR enforcement procedure apart from administrative, civil and criminal procedure available for enforcement of rights of the right holder Dispute settlement: The agreement further provides for the settlement of disputes over IPR among the member states within the parameters of dispute settlement procedure
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 Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) Current Negotiations in special sessions (SS)

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 Benefits and costs of higher IP standards for developing countries Protection of traditional knowledge and culture Biological diversity Health Food Investment and transfer of technology

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 Transitional arrangements Developed countries to provide (I) Incentives for transfer of technology to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) (II) Technical assistance and financial support to developing countries in preparing laws and regulations on protection and enforcements of IPRs

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Thanks !!!! For further query and discussion you can find me @ Sr. Scientist @ I/C ARIS CELL sanjay@ivri.res.in
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