The main types of intellectual property rights are largely individual property rights 2. Two main phases in the development of IPR regimes relevant for the present study can be identified. The first period ranges from the mid-nineteenth century to the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement. During this period, the main IPR treaties were largely mechanisms for coordinating national IPR policies. As a result, the member states were given significant leeway in adopting IPR laws suited to their own needs and priorities. The second period formally started in 1995 with the coming into force of the TRIPS Agreement. The major change that it has introduced is the imposition of minimum levels of protection. In principle, the TRIPS Agreement has not taken away from member states the right to independently adopt IPR laws, but this must take place within the constraints of the minimum standards introduced by the TRIPS Agreement, which will be discussed later. The TRIPS Agreement is still the governing treaty in the field of IPR, but the overall legal framework is fast developing. In some areas such as patents, there are proposals for further internationalising the legal regime by adopting an international substantive patent law treaty. Further, the minimum standards of the TRIPS Agreement are progressively becoming a thing of the past with the increasingly adoption of bilateral treaties that impose the introduction of higher standards of protection.
Notes and References
2There are exceptions such as geographical indications. Geographical indications are a form of IPR that do not protect novel elements but rather an accumulated goodwill built up over a long period of time. This goodwill is the outcome of a recognised or perceived link between a product and a geographical area. The purpose of geographical indications is to identify products but not to provide protection to the product as such. Further, geographical indications are atypical insofar as they are a collective right that only grant producers in a given area the right to use the indication for products of a specific geographical area and that is unlimited as long as the specific conditions for the grant of the geographical indication remain in place. Geographical indications can take the form of words, phrases, symbols and iconic emblems. Under the TRIPS Agreement, indications do not necessarily have to be the name of geographical place on the earth and can therefore include names that relate to a specific geographical area such as basmati in the case of rice. However, goods that are protected must originate in the region, to which they are associated, which implies that licenses for the production of a protected good outside its region of origin cannot be protected (See Michael Blakney. 2001. ‘Geographical indications and TRIPS', Occasional paper, No. 8, Geneva : Quaker United Nations Office). Different countries use different criteria to demarcate areas that can be covered by an indication. These can range from a geographical unit linked to a political classification to ad hoc definitions such as where a specific wine-growing area is granted a right [See WTO, Review under Article 24.2 of the Application of the Provision of the Section of the TRIPS Agreement on Geographical Indications, WTO Doc IP/C/W/253 (2001)].