Which Section of Trips Agreement Deals with Copyright


1. Where use is necessary for the maintenance of a registration, it may be cancelled only after an uninterrupted period of at least three years of non-use, unless the proprietor of the trade mark demonstrates valid reasons based on the existence of obstacles to such use. Circumstances that occur beyond the control of the trademark owner and constitute an obstacle to the use of the mark, such as import restrictions or other administrative requirements for the goods or services protected by the mark, are recognized as valid grounds for non-use. Article 40 of the TRIPS Agreement recognizes that certain licensing practices or conditions relating to intellectual property rights that restrict competition may adversely affect trade and impede the transfer and dissemination of technology (paragraph 1). Member States may, in accordance with the other provisions of the Convention, take appropriate measures to prevent or control abusive and anti-competitive practices in the licensing of intellectual property rights (paragraph 2). The Convention provides for a mechanism whereby a country wishing to take action against practices involving undertakings from another Member State shall enter into consultations with that other Member State and, subject to publicly available non-confidential information relevant to the matter in question and other information available to that Member, subject to national law and mutual agreement. satisfactory agreements on the maintenance of confidentiality by the requesting member (paragraph 3). Similarly, a country whose companies are subject to such measures in another Member State may enter into consultations with that Member (paragraph 4). The obligations under the TRIPS Agreement apply equally to all Member States, but developing countries have had more time to implement existing changes to their national legislation in two transitional stages depending on their level of development. The transition period for developing countries expired in 2005. The transition period for TRIPS implementation for least developed countries has been extended until 2013 and for pharmaceutical patents until 1 January 2016, with the possibility of a further extension. [12] Article 10(1) provides that computer programs, whether in source code or subject matter, are protected as literary works under the Berne Convention (1971). This provision confirms that computer programs must be protected by copyright and that the provisions of the Berne Convention that apply to literary works also apply to them.

It also confirms that the form in which a program resides, whether in source or object code, does not compromise protection. The obligation to protect computer programs as literary works means, for . B, that only the restrictions that apply to literary works can be applied to computer programs. It also confirms that the general term of protection of 50 years applies to computer programs. Shorter deadlines for photographic works and works of applied art cannot be applied. The TRIPS Agreement not only requires compliance with the basic standards of the Berne Convention, but also clarifies and adds certain specific points. At the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was adopted to regulate certain aspects of intellectual property in the international arena. The inclusion of the TRIPS Agreement is due to the lobbying of developed countries to ensure the international protection of intellectual property rights, given their importance for trade and development.

The TRIPS Agreement is considered by some scholars to be the foundation of the international intellectual property regime. Section 1 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement provides for the protection of copyright. Members may set conditions for the licensing and assignment of trademarks, assuming that the compulsory license of trademarks is not permitted and that the owner of a registered trademark has the right to assign the trademark with or without transfer from the company to which the trademark belongs. However, given that the TRIPS Agreement is more than a decade old, it does not address several new developments, such as the Internet and digital copyright issues, advanced biotechnology and international harmonization, the process of creating uniform global standards for laws or practices. It sets the floor for minimum protection of intellectual property rights, not the ceiling. Article 14.2 requires Members to grant producers of phonograms an exclusive right of reproduction. In addition, in accordance with Article 14(4), they must grant at least producers of phonograms an exclusive rental right. The provisions on rental rights shall also apply to all other holders of phonogram rights provided for by national law. This right has the same scope as lease law with respect to computer programs. Therefore, it is not subject to the depreciation test as for cinema films.

However, it is limited by a so-called grandfather clause, according to which a member which was in force on 15 April 1994, that is to say, on the date of signature of the Marrakesh Convention, a system of equitable remuneration of rightholders in respect of the rental of phonograms may maintain such a system, provided that the commercial rental of phonograms does not result in a significant infringement of the exclusive reproduction rights of rightholders. 3. Broadcasting organizations have the right to prohibit the following acts if they are performed without their authorization: the recording, reproduction of recordings and retransmission of programmes by wireless means, as well as the communication to the public of their television broadcasts. If members do not grant such rights to broadcasting organizations, they shall give the holders of copyright in the subject matter of the broadcasts the possibility, subject to the provisions of the Berne Convention (1971), to prevent such acts. The TRIPS Agreement not only obliges Member States to protect layout-designs of integrated circuits in accordance with the provisions of the IPIC Treaty, but also clarifies and/or develops four points. These points concern the term of protection (ten years instead of eight, Article 38), the applicability of protection to objects, the violation of integrated circuits (last subsection of Article 36) and the treatment of innocent offenders (Article 37(1)). The conditions set out in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement apply mutatis mutandis to the granting of compulsory or non-voluntary licences of a design scheme or to its use by or by the Government without the authorization of the right holder instead of the provisions of the IPIC Treaty on Compulsory Licensing (Article 37.2). As regards all geographical indications, interested parties must have legal means to prevent the use of indications misleading the public as to the geographical origin of the product and uses constituting an act of unfair competition within the meaning of Article 10a of the Paris Convention (Article 22(2)). Article 35 of the TRIPS Agreement requires Member States to protect layout-designs of integrated circuits in accordance with the provisions of the IPIC (Intellectual Property and Integrated Circuits Treaty), which was negotiated in 1989 under the auspices of WIPO.

These provisions concern, inter alia, definitions of integrated circuit design and layout (topography), protection requirements, exclusive rights and restrictions, as well as operation, registration and disclosure. An integrated circuit is a product in its final or intermediate form in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and all or part of the compounds in and/or on a piece of material are formed entirely and which is intended to perform an electronic function. A schematic design (topography) is defined as the three-dimensional arrangement, whatever its expression, of the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and of all or part of the connections of an integrated circuit or such a three-dimensional arrangement prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture. .