1.

TRADE RELATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: 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. Intellectual property rights are customarily divided into two main areas: (i) Copyright and rights related to copyright. The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings, sculpture, computer programs and films) are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author. Also protected through copyright and related (sometimes referred to as neighbouring) rights are the rights of performers (e.g. actors, singers and musicians), producers of phonograms (sound recordings) and broadcasting organizations. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.

(ii) Industrial property. Industrial property can usefully be divided into two main areas:

One area can be characterized as the protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks (which distinguish the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings) and geographical indications (which identify a good as originating in a place where a given characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin). The protection of such distinctive signs aims to stimulate and ensure fair competition and to protect consumers, by enabling them to make informed choices between various goods and services. The protection may last indefinitely, provided the sign in question continues to be distinctive.

Other types of industrial property are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology. In this category fall inventions (protected by patents), industrial designs and trade secrets. The social purpose is to provide protection for the results of investment in the development of new technology, thus giving the incentive and means to finance research and development activities. A functioning intellectual property regime should also facilitate the transfer of technology in the form of foreign direct investment, joint ventures and licensing.

The protection is usually given for a finite term (typically 20 years in the case of patents).

While the basic social objectives of intellectual property protection are as outlined above, it should also be noted that the exclusive rights given are generally subject to a number of limitations and exceptions, aimed at fine-tuning the balance that has to be found between the legitimate interests of right holders and of users. Types of intellectual property Copyright and related rights Trademarks, including service marks Geographical indications Industrial designs Patents Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuitsUndisclosed information, including trade secrets

Intellectual property: protection and enforcement The WTOs Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), negotiated in the 1986-94 Uruguay Round, introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system for the first time. The agreement covers five broad issues: how basic principles of the trading system and other international intellectual property agreements should be applied how to give adequate protection to intellectual property rights how countries should enforce those rights adequately in their own territories how to settle disputes on intellectual property between members of the WTO special transitional arrangements during the period when the new system is being introduced.

The TRIPS Agreement has an additional important principle: intellectual property protection should contribute to technical innovation and the transfer of technology. Both producers and users should benefit, and economic and social welfare should be enhanced, the agreement says. The second part of the TRIPS agreement looks at different kinds of intellectual property rights and how to protect them. The purpose is to ensure that adequate standards of protection exist in all member countries. Here the starting point is the obligations of the main international agreements of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that already existed before the WTO was created: The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (patents, industrial designs) The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (copyright).

Criticism for TRIPS: TRIPS aims to prevent imitation of products (which is ironic, given that this would allow further competition and better prices for drugs and other products, which is something that transnational corporations have often sung as being the benefits of free trade and corporate-led capitalism with minimal restrictions). The effect of the 20 year period of a patent protection is to basically deny others (such as developing countries and their corporations) from developing alternatives that would be cheaper. Technology transfer is prevented (again, a direct contradiction to those who support the WTO, free trade in its current forms etc., which includes western multinational pharmaceutical corporations.) Transnational corporations will be able to continue to grow more due to their profits from this, while others will decline further. While there are some provisions, such as compulsory licensing to allow creation of alternatives in cases of emergency and parallel importing to effectively permit shopping around the international market for the cheapest price of the same product, it doesnt go far enough as many nations have faced pressure from the likes of the United States, when they have used these measures (even though they use it a lot themselves.) TRIPS, WTO and general international trade related agreements do not take public health needs into account. Instead, commercial interests are promoted. 2. There is already a wide technologic divide between developed and developing countries. Although developing countries are rich in informal knowledge, they are net importers of the kinds of high-tech goods and know-how protected by TRIPS. Industrialised countries, on the other hand, account for 90 per cent of global research and development (R&D) spending, an even higher share of patents, and are the main exporters of IP. TRIPS will exacerbate this divide by increasing the cost of knowledge-rich goods imported by developing countries. Royalties and licence fees paid by developing countries to patent holders in the industrialised world have been climbing rapidly since the mid-1980s.