Intellectual property
Foreword
As we mark the 20th anniversary of the WTO it seems appropriate that we should put a spotlight on the TRIPS Agreement which also turns 20 this year. When the TRIPS Agreement came into being in 1995 it introduced substantive and comprehensive disciplines on intellectual property rights (IPRs) into the multilateral trading system.
Negotiating for Argentina
To prepare a chapter that presents the experiences of a negotiator of the TRIPS Agreement as close as possible to reality is not an easy task. This is because the Agreement is complex as it covers many subjects related to IP and is made up of a set of rules with varied degrees of specificity and detail. Approaching this task 25 years after the negotiations has introduced complications and involuntary distortions that have made this task even more difficult.
Copyright: A Nordic perspective
During the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations I worked at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture where my main responsibilities included copyright law and policy. I participated in coordination of the Nordic countries (Finland Iceland Norway and Sweden) in the capitals and represented the Nordic countries in the later stages of the TRIPS negotiations in Geneva. During the same period I was also actively involved in WIPO’s work on copyright and the protection of layout-designs of integrated circuits and also contributed to the intergovernmental work under various other international and European fora such as the International Convention for the Protection of Performers Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (Rome Convention). Since January 1995 I have served at the WTO Secretariat IP Division.
Copyright: An Indian perspective
My unexpected participation in the TRIPS negotiations as my country’s sole negotiator on copyright remains one of the unforgettable experiences of a 38-year civil service career.
Appendices
I would like to thank you very much for inviting me to this Symposium. It is really great to be back in Geneva. I have indeed very fond memories of my long stay here and coming back gives me the great pleasure to meet dear old friends.
Revisiting the TRIPS negotiations: Genesis and structure of this book
The 1986 Punta del Este Declaration inaugurated a set of negotiations on “traderelated aspects of intellectual property rights” as part of the Uruguay Round mandate for multilateral trade negotiations. These negotiations led ultimately to the conclusion of the TRIPS Agreement an integral element of the single undertaking constituting the legal framework for the newly established WTO which came into existence in 1995.
Preface
This book was conceived in mid-2014 when members of the Intellectual Property Division (IPD) of the WTO began to reflect on what facets of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) could be highlighted for WTO members and the public at large in 2015 a year marking the 20th anniversary both of the WTO and of the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement. The IPD under the leadership of its Director Antony Taubman planned a capacity-building Symposium on the TRIPS Agreement and a book on TRIPS negotiations informally dubbed the “TRIPS@20” project.
Working together towards TRIPS
The negotiations on IP during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations of the GATT (1986–94) were able to build upon a large body of existing law both international and domestic. The main disciplines and notions of IP protection were already well established at the inception of the negotiations in 1986 with the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration in Punta del Este and its compromise that meant that negotiations would be conducted only on so-called trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883 and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886 – both amounting to the very first multilateral agreements in the field of international economic law long before the advent of the GATT in 1947 – provided the underpinnings in international law.
Negotiating for Switzerland
Learning is a continuing process in one’s life. Some lessons are well archived on our “personal hard disk” with learning by doing being the most efficient method of saving those lessons. Negotiating the TRIPS Agreement was “unforgettable” to cite a famous American TV series. Indeed it is one of the most well-archived and prominent learning experiences of my career. Having been born and grown up in a developing country namely Viet Nam (south) with its realities printed in my DNA I came a long way eventually working at representing a small developed country. Switzerland which is characterized by an economy based on free enterprise innovation and exports of manufactured goods and services as well as by a compromise-oriented “culture” in terms of policy law-making and negotiating set the stage for this learning experience in the field of IP prior during and after the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the GATT.
The Making of the TRIPS Agreement
A comprehensive account of the establishment of the World Trade Organization focusing on those who shaped its creation as well as those who have influenced its evolution. The book examines trade negotiations the WTO’s dispute settlement role the presence of coalitions and groupings within the WTO the process of joining the organization and many other topics including what lies ahead for the organization.
WIPO-WTO colloquium papers 2015
The WIPO-WTO Colloquium Papers is a peer-reviewed academic journal published jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization each year since 2010. Providing a uniquely representative and diverse showcase for emerging IP scholarship from across the globe the journal aims to stimulate analysis and debate on intellectual property (IP) issues particularly of interest to developing countries. And it offers an avenue for the dissemination of a broader and more geographically diverse and representative range of scholarship than is common in much of the academic literature on IP law and policy.
TRIPS Agreement
The establishment of the WTO’s TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) Agreement in 1995 changed the face of international intellectual property (IP) law and policy-making. TRIPS negotiators recognized that shortcomings and inconsistencies in IP protection can distort trade and impede its benefits. The TRIPS Agreement helps ease trade tensions about IP issues while leaving WTO members ample space to pursue diverse domestic policies. This brochure produced to mark the WTO’s 20th anniversary looks into the use of IP rights covered by the Agreement.
Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Export Diversification
We examine in this paper the impact of the tightening of IPRs notably patents rights and the adoption of utility model laws on export diversification. To perform our analysis we used panel data covering 89 developing and developed countries (of which 55 developing countries) over the period 1975 – 2003 and Lewbel (-2012-)'s instrumental variable technique. Our results lead us to conclude that for developing countries legal protection for minor and adaptive inventions could be a springboard for further strengthening of IPRs protection in spurring export diversification which is essential for the structural change needed for their economic development.