CONVENTIONS AND TREATIES RELATING

TO IP

India has sufficient legal protection for intellectual property rights. The enactments have shown

to be effective in governing and administering intellectual property that is born in India. But what

about the worldwide status of our Registered IPs? Imagine how challenging it would become to

convey to the world that a new IP has emerged. Through what medium will the registered

proprietor of an IP approach another country in order to get his IP registered there and protect

his rights?

Here is where the International Conventions and Treaties make it easier to facilitate and oversee

intellectual property all around the world. The primary goals of these conventions and treaties

are to promote the protection of Intellectual property rights and regulated matters relating to

intellectual property in all of the parties’ participating nations. These Conventions and treaties

create a global platform for all its member countries who are looking forward to developing the

Intellectual Property sector.

There are various types of conventions and treaties that govern Copyrights and industrial

property and to name the important ones: WIPO Convention, Berne Convention, Paris

Convention, TRIPS Agreement, WIPO Copyright Treaty, etc.,

WIPO CONVENTION

The World Intellectual Property Organization is an agency within the United Nations dedicated to

promoting intellectual property rights throughout the globe. WIPO was established in 1970 after

being ratified in Stockholm in 1967. The adoption of the Paris and Berne Convention has formed
WIPO. WIPO is committed to fostering creativity and innovation by guaranteeing that the rights

of creators and owners of intellectual property are safeguarded globally and that the authors

and inventors are recognized and rewarded for their novelty.

WIPO has mainly two objectives:

i) Promote the protection of Intellectual Property Rights throughout the world through

coordination among States and where appropriate, in collaboration with any other international

organization.

ii) To ensure administrative cooperation among the intellectual property Unions established

by the treaties that WIPO administers, such as Paris Union, Berne Union, etc.

There are various functions that WIPO has to undergo in order to attain its said objectives:

i) Normative Activities: This activity involves setting norms and standards for the protection

and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.

ii) Programme Activities: This activity involves legal and technical assistance to its member

countries in the field of Intellectual Property.

iii) International classification and standardization activities: This activity involves

cooperation among industrial property offices concerning Patent, Trademark, and Industrial

design documentation.

iv) Registration and filing activities: This activity involves services related to international

applications regarding patents for inventions and for the registration of marks and industrial

design.
All such above functions are undergone by WIPO in order to safeguard the concept of IPR in its

member countries. WIPO facilitates the process of reciprocation among its member countries,

but it is essential to determine what makes a country part of WIPO. A country is considered to

be a part of WIPO if,

a) It is a member of the United Nations; or

b) It is a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice; or

c) It has been invited by the General Assembly of WIPO; or

d) It has applied to be a part of WIPO;

BERNE CONVENTION:

The Berne Convention revolves around the protection of Literary and Artistic works. Berne

Convention is supposed to be the oldest treaty on Copyright. This convention was adopted on

September 9, 1886, at Berne and came into force on 04th December 1887. Berne convention

mandates its member states to protect the economic such as the Right of Reproduction,

distribution, communication to the public, etc., and moral rights such as the Right to claim

authorship, objection, etc., of the Authors over their Literary or Artistic work.

The Convention, which was revised several times in order to cope with the challenges posed by

the technology, rests on 2 basic principles:

i) National Treatment: The convention focuses on ensuring that each member state

provides equal protection to the all-other member countries as it would provide to its own

nationals without any discrimination.

ii) Automatic Protection: It is a known fact that Copyright does not require registration in

order to avail protection. As soon as a work, original in its nature, comes into existence, the

author of such work will have a copyright over it. Berne Convention relies on the concept of

automatic protection and allows the protection and enjoyment of copyright at the international

level with any formality of registration.

PARIS CONVENTION

Paris Convention is the first-ever agreement that deals with the protection of all Industrial

Property such as Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Design, Utility models, Trade Secrets, etc., This

convention, which is administered by the World Intellectual property organization, was adopted

in 1883.

The Paris Convention promises three important elements to each of its member countries in

order to fulfill its goal which is-

a) National Treatment: It says that one nation has to provide the same and equal kind of

protection to the other member nationals.

b) Right of priority: It says that if an applicant files an application for the registration of any

industrial property, as the case may be, he can within the stipulated time apply for protection of

such industrial property in any other contracting States and such application will then be

registered as of the first date of application.

TRIPS AGREEMENT

The World Trade Organisation and World Intellectual Property Organisation members developed

a Trade Related Intellectual Property System (TRIPS) with minimal requirements established to

be observed by all the contracting Countries. The most extensive international agreement on
intellectual property as of today is the TRIPS Agreement, which headed into implementation on

January 1, 1995. The World Trade Organisation, which administers the Agreement, brought

Intellectual Property Law to the international trade system. The Agreement also grants its

member countries exemptions, advantages, favors, and privileges in the area of Intellectual

Property.

The TRIPS Agreement entails enforcement procedures, Remedies, and Dispute Resolution

Procedures. The process for resolving any disputes that may develop between the member

nations is akin to the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement system. The Agreement

intends to resolve the dispute arising over the Intellectual Property among the contracting

countries and amicably settle them.

The TRIPS Agreement focuses on shielding Intellectual Property Rights i.e., Copyrights,

Trademarks, Patents, Industrial Design, Trade Secrets, Geographical indications, and Layout

Designs for integrated circuits. The main aim of this Agreement is to maintain a fine balance

between the welfare of Intellectual Property and economic development. Further, the Agreement

looks after protecting and promoting Intellectual Property for technological novelty and growth.

WIPO COPYRIGHT TREATY

The WIPO Copyright treaty was adopted at the WIPO Diplomatic Conference in order to meet the

gap which happened to remain post the TRIPS Agreement came into force. The TRIPS

Agreement has lacked in ascertaining the challenges contained in new technologies. The

Agreement did not provide for the protection of- i) Computer Programmes (regardless of the

mode of expression), ii) Intellectual creations born out of Database or data Compilation.

Because of the reasons mentioned prior, it was necessary to bring into force the WIPO Copyright

Treaty which suggests three exclusive rights of authors-

a) Right of distribution;

b) Right of rental;

c) Right of Communication to the public.

The WIPO Copyright Treaty obligates its members to provide legal remedies against the

avoidance of technological fraud/error and/or measures.

CONCLUSION

The sector of intellectual property is expanding dramatically. The need to simultaneously

protect and enforce intellectual property rights has been recognized worldwide. To make the

science of intellectual property as transparent as science itself, several international institutions

have been working extremely hard to drill deeper into the intellectual property crust. With the aid

of conventions and treaties, a new platform has been created for the globe to come together

and address IPR-related issues by establishing norms and ideologies.