INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION

Intellectual property rights are the exclusive rights given to persons by the Governments 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. IPRs are also granted to Organisations / Companies / Institutions.

IPRs are legal in nature and governed by the respective Legal Acts legislated by the  Parliament of the respective Nation (say Government of India)

The Intellectual Property Rights are in turn abide to the decisions made by World Trade Organisation (WTO), an International Body set up and stationed at Geneva, Switzerland.

In order to have better understanding of IPRs we need to know about WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION which is the Primary Institution related to the Trade among the Nations. The TRIPS agreement of WTO governs the  Intellectual  Property Rights.

WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the global organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. It deals with the Trade agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments.

The aims of WTO are to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible among the member nations across the Globe.

The individual member nations look at the World Trade Organization for the following Trade Related issues.

·         It is an organization for trade opening.

·         It is a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements.

·         It is a place for them to settle trade disputes.

·         It operates a system of trade rules.

·         Essentially, the WTO is a place where member governments try to sort out the trade related problems, they face with each other.

In a nutshell it is the platform to settle all the matters relating to World Trade.

The WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacles to international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all, thus contributing to economic growth and development. It also provides a legal and institutional framework for the implementation and monitoring of these agreements, as well as for settling disputes arising from their interpretation and application.

The current body of trade agreements comprising the WTO consists of 16 different multilateral agreements (to which all WTO members are parties) and two different plurilateral agreements (to which only some WTO members are parties).

The Organisation was established in 1995. It was earlier known as GATT (General Agreements of Trade and Tariff) have helped to create a strong and prosperous international trading system. The WTO currently has 164 members, of which 117 are developing countries or separate customs territories.

 WTO's main activities are:

— negotiating the reduction or elimination of obstacles to trade (import tariffs, other barriers to trade) and agreeing on rules governing the conduct of international trade (e.g. antidumping, subsidies, product standards, etc.)
— administering and monitoring the application of the WTO's agreed rules for trade in goods, trade in services, and trade-related intellectual property rights
— monitoring and reviewing the trade policies of its members, as well as ensuring transparency of regional and bilateral trade agreements
— settling disputes among  members regarding the interpretation and application of the agreements
— building capacity of developing country government officials in international trade matters
— assisting the process of accession of some 30 countries who are not yet members of the organization
— conducting economic research and collecting and disseminating trade data in support of the WTO's other main activities
— explaining to and educating the public about the WTO, its mission and its activities.

The WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), negotiated during the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system for the first time. It was an important agreement related to goods in World Trade.

The WTO’s TRIPS Agreement is an attempt to narrow the gaps in the way these rights are protected and enforced around the world, and to bring them under common international rules. It establishes minimum standards of protection and enforcement that each government has to give to the intellectual property held by nationals of fellow WTO members.

The TRIPS Agreement covers five broad areas:

·         how general provisions and basic principles of the multilateral trading system apply to international intellectual property

·         what the minimum standards of protection are for intellectual property rights that members should provide

·         which procedures members should provide for the enforcement of those rights in their own territories?

·         how to settle disputes on intellectual property between members of the WTO

·         special transitional arrangements for the implementation of TRIPS provisions.

Need and Development

In order to sustain in business there is need for continuous search for new products and processes. Innovations are essential to look for new products or improvement of existing products. These innovations are protected in a legal framework through IPRs.

IPR is the personal property of a single or group of people resulting from the creative or inventive work. These creations include products / processes inventions, designs, symbols, names, ideas, literary works and so on in original form. These creations /inventions should be protected from copying by others and using for business gains.

IP rights are important to set the business apart from competitors. be sold or licensed, providing an important revenue stream.

Advantages of IPRs

Intellectual property rights help the inventor in providing exclusive rights thereby helps to distribute and share information and data instead of keeping it secret or confidential.

It also provides legal protection and offers them incentive of their work through licencing. Rights granted under the intellectual property act helps in socio and economic development.

India has defined the establishment of statutory, administrative and judicial framework for protecting the intellectual property rights in the Indian territory.

IPRS include patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial deigns, geographical indications, trade secrets, layout designs for integrated circuits and even ideas.

IPRs in India

IPRs in India are governed by Central Government through various Acts.The following are different acts promulgated through Parliament and are being implemented. They include

1.    The Patent Act, 1970 For protection of Inventions with consequent amendments thereon

2.    The Trademark Act, 1999 for protection of a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of other and Consequent amendments thereon

3.    Indian Copyright Act, 1957 for protection of original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture and consequent amendments from time to time.

4.    The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 for protection of products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

5.    The Designs Act, 2000 for protection of the 'overall appearance of the product resulting from one or more visual features.' The visual features encompass the shape, configuration, pattern and ornamentation of the product but do not extend to the functionality and amendment, if any.

6.    The Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 for protection of plant varieties.

7.    Trade Secrets: In India there is no specific legislation for protection of confidential information and trade secrets. But, the related cases are prosecuted on the principles of equity, common law for breach of confidence/ contractual obligations.