Q Why is it in News ?
A India runs the risk of being excluded from a proposal it co-authored at the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, in 2020, to “temporarily waive” intellectual property rights (IPR) held, by primarily Western countries, on vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for COVID-19.
Q What is the case?
A
- India and China are two major global suppliers of medicine.
- A small group of WTO members was discussing suggestions to exclude drug manufacturers in India and China from prospective waivers to IPR obligations.
- IPR obligations are a result of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which WTO members are committed to upholding.
Q What is the Agreement on TRIPS?
A
- The Agreement on TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
- It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of different forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
- TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
- It introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.
Q What are key provisions ?
A
- TRIPS requires member states to provide strong protection for intellectual property rights.
- It seeks to provide copyright rights, covering authors and other copyright holders, as well as holders of related rights, namely performers, sound recording producers, and broadcasting organizations.
- It provides for geographical indications (GI); industrial designs; integrated circuit layout designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade names and undisclosed or confidential information.
- It also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
- TRIPS also has a most favored nation (MFN) clause.
Q Why TRIPS?
A
- The obligations of the main international agreements of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that already existed before the WTO was created:
- Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (patents, industrial designs, etc)
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (copyright).
- Some areas are not covered by these agreements. In some cases, the standards of protection prescribed were thought inadequate.
- So the TRIPS Agreement adds significantly to existing international standards.
Q What else is covered under TRIPS Agreement?
A
- Copyright terms must extend at least 50 years unless based on the life of the author.
- Computer programs must be regarded as “literary works” under copyright law and receive the same terms of protection.
- Patents must be granted for “inventions” in all fields of technology and must be enforceable for at least 20 years.
