Ans. Under the
Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, regime of intellectual
property rights was negotiated under trade related intellectual property rights
which became an important component of the Marrakesh Agreement. Development and
enforcement of intellectual property rights regimes was removed from other
international agencies and was brought under Uruguay Round of Multilateral
Trade Negotiations under the auspices of General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade
(GATT). The inclusion of intellectual property rights in the agenda of the GATT
was to not only enable negotiations set to achieve uniform and higher standards
of protection and enforcement, but also empower concerned organization to take
recourse to "cross retaliation" in the goods sector to ensure
compliance. The appellation "trade related aspects" is only a thin
veil to confer legitimacy on the inclusion of the subject on the agenda of
Uruguay Round. The USA had similarly done unilaterally under Super and Special
301 provisions of its trade laws.
TRIPS
Agreement, covers seven categories of intellectual property, viz., copyright
and related rights, trade marks, geographical indication, industrial designs,
patents (which include micro-organisms and plant varieties), integrated
circuits and trade secrets.
i)
Protection will be available for 20 years for patents and for 50 years for
copyrights. Patents shall be available for any invention, whether product or
process, in all fields of technology. Further, patents shall be available and
patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention,
the field of technology whether products are imported or locally produced.
Patent will be available in the area of computer development and information
technology.
ii)
Protection of intellectual property rights provided in the agreement will be
enforced through the Common Dispute Settlement Mechanism of World Trade
Organization (WTO) which provides for retaliation and cross retaliation.
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