International Developments

Reasons for Formation of GATT and WIPO

  • After World War II, economy in many European and Asian countries was shattered. After the UNO three bodies were born in 1947, i.e., World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Trade Organization (ITO). It was the US senate, which blocked the ITO. The objective of these organizations was to revive the economy especially in developing countries. It was in the same year India signed General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The main objective was to encourage trade. On January 1, 1948, 23 contracting states including India ratified GATT.
  • Meanwhile, with the increasing awareness of the intellectual property, in 1960, in order to bring closer to United Nations and other international organizations, BIRPI was shifted from Berne to Geneva. In 1967, in order to modernize and for better administration of the unions with respect to protection of the intellectual property and artistic works, while fully respecting the independence of each of the union, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) replaced the BIRPI.

Role of WIPO

  • The role of WIPO is to promote international cooperation with respect to creation, dissemination, use and protection of works of the human mind for economic, social, cultural progress of all mankind.
  • It enhances a worldwide balance of the creation i.e., by protecting moral, material interests of the creators and providing access to the socio-economic and cultural benefits to others.
  • WIPO promotes protection of intellectual property and bring out cooperation among the union. In addition to these, WIPO sets norms, standards and execute legal technical assistance, registration activities for intellectual property protection to member countries. It is the WIPO; which is responsible for the formation of Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT).

Uruguay Round

  • Having found some setbacks in the rules of GATT, the members came together to negotiate issues regarding international trade liberalization, improve the rules.
  • Starting in 1986, the negotiations ended in 1993. Not only the inclusion of the traditional areas of trade in goods, the rules relating, trade in services, trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) in the negotiations, but also the approval of farm trade by services, market access, anti-dumping rules and the proposed creation of new institution by all member countries dragged attention on Uruguay round.

TRIPS Agreement

  • The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the international trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date.
  • The Doha declaration is a WTO statement that clarifies the scope of TRIPS, stating for example that TRIPS can and should be interpreted in light of the goal "to promote access to medicines for all."
  • Specifically, TRIPS requires WTO members to provide copyright rights, covering content producers including performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications, including appellations of origin; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade dress; and undisclosed or confidential information.
  • TRIPS also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
  • Protection and enforcement of all intellectual property rights shall meet the objectives to contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

WTO Trips Origin

  • It was on April 15, 1994 at Marrakesh, Morocco, the ministries of 125 governments signed the agreement.
  • The agreement signed at Marrakesh led to replacement of GATT by the World Trade Organization (WTO), on January 1, 1995. Upon signing the agreement all the countries became WTO members. Under the WTO agreement an agreement regarding Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual property has been included.

Institutions

Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion

  • The Ministry of Commerce and Industry administers two departments, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.
  • This department was established in the year 1995, and in the year 2000 Department of Industrial Development was merged with it. This department is responsible for formulation and implementation of promotional and developmental measures for growth of the industrial sector, keeping in view the national priorities and socio-economic objectives.
  • Policy and Promotion is also responsible for intellectual property rights relating to patents, designs, trademarks, and geographical indication of goods and oversees the initiative relating to their promotion and protection.

Indian Patent Office

  • The Indian Patent Office is administered by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM). This is a subordinate office of the Government of India and administers the Indian law of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.
  • The patent office is headquartered at Kolkata with branches in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai, but the office of the CGPDTM is in Mumbai.
  • The CGPDTM reports to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and has five main administrative sections-
    • Patent Office
    • Designs Registry
    • Trademarks Registry
    • Geographical Indications Registry
    • Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM)
    • Patent Information System

TIFAC

  • Asper the recommendation of Technology Policy Implementation Committee (TPIC) in 1985, Cabinet approved the formation of TIFAC in mid-1986 and TIFAC was formed as a registered Society in February, 1988 under the Department of Science and Technology as an autonomous body.
  • It was mandated to assess the state-of-art of technology and set directions for future technological development in India in important socio-economic sectors.

NRDC

National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was established in 1953 by the Government of India, with the primary objective to promote, develop and commercialize the technologies/know-how/inventions/patents/processes emanating from various national R&D institutions/Universities and is presently working under the administrative control of the Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology.

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