Presentation on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual

Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement: A case study on

Submitted By
Sifatuzzaman Khan
ID:BB-030-329
 WHAT IS TRIPS

• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

(TRIPS Agreement) was negotiated between 1986 and 1994 during the
Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

• TRIPS Agreement sets minimum levels of several types of intellectual

property (IP) protection, including copyright, trademarks, patents,
industrial design, and trade secrets protection.

• the Agreement attempts to strike a balance between long-term social

benefits to society of increased innovations and short-term costs to
society from the lack of access to inventions (World Trade Organization
(n.d.) Intellectual property: protection and enforcement.
 OBJECTIVES OF TRIPS
• To reduce distortions and impediment to international tarde and take into account
the need to promote competent as well as adequate protection of IPRs

• To ensure the measures and procedures to enforce IPRs do not themselves

become barriers to legitimate trade.

• To reduce tensions by reaching strengthened commitment, to resolve disputres on

trade-related IP issues through multilateral procedures.

• To establish a mutually supportive relationship between the World Trade

Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF

Political
Environment

Technological Legal
Environment Environment

Cultural Economical
Environment Environment
TYPES OF IPRS AVAILABLE IN THE COMPANY

PATENT TRADEMARK

PROTECTION OF
INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
PATENT
• The TRIPS requires members countries to make patents available for any
inventions, whether products or process, 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 on following
grounds:
• Inventions necessary to protect ordre public or morality; including to protect
human, animal or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment

• The term of protection ( for a period of 20 years counted from the filing date)
Trademark
• Trademarks protects any word, name, logo or device used to identify,
distinguished or indicate the source of goods or services

• Include trade dress (the total image and overall appearance of a product)
and product configuration (the shape)

• The putpose 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 then 7years)
Industrial design
• protect of independently created industrial designs that are new or original.

• The term of protection (amount to at least 10 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 interest of the owner
of the protected design
 Protection of undisclosed information
• TRIPS Agreement requires undisclosed information -- trade secrets or
know-how -- to benefit from protection.

• the protection must apply to information that is secret, that has

commercial value

• undisclosed test data and other data whose submission is required by

governments as a condition of approving the marketing of
pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products which use new
chemical entities.
Control of anti-competitive practices in contractual
licenses

• recognizes that some licensing practices or conditions pertaining to

intellectual property rights which restrain competition may have adverse
effects on trade and may impede the transfer and dissemination of
technology

• Member countries may adopt appropriate measures to prevent or control

practices in the licensing of intellectual property rights which are abusive and
anti-competitive

• The Agreement provides for a mechanism whereby a country seeking to take

action against such practices involving the companies of another Member
country can enter into consultations with that other Member
Main features of the agreement
• Standards: the agreement expresses minimum standards of protection.
1) The subject matter to be protected
2) The minimum period of protection
• Enforcement
1) provision for domestic procedure and remedies for the enforcement
of the IPRs
2) incudes general principle applicable to IPR enforcement
procedure 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.
Limitations of the agreements

• High levels of patent protection mandated by TRIPS are bad for all countries

• Developing countries have been hurt by TRIPS, and their injuries are greater
than the gains reaped by developed countries

• Strategic use of patent system stifles research and development, prevents

innovation, and restricts information flows in the developing nations

• TRIPS regarding patents have driven up the costs of drugs for developing
countries and made it extremely difficult to tackle public health crises.
 Suggestions for ensuring the compliance of the agreement

• TRIPS negotiations covering biotechnology and geographical indications, a few comments can
be made from a national perspective.

• Make a clear rule regarding parallel importing

• provide extended IPR rights to performers in conformity with another new WIPO agreement

• join the Madrid Protocol for the international registration of trade marks

• Different countries at different economic stages of economic development must accordingly

strike their own balance between incentives to create and the benefit of free competition while
respecting the normative guidelines established by TRIPS agreement
 conclusion
• Highly innovative and remains the most comprehensive international
agreement on intellectual property till date.
• Overall it has worked well, however, it needs to continue to
implement wide ranging provisions specially when it touches
significant public policy question.