The TRIPS Agreement came into effect on 1 January 1995 along with the other Uruguay round agreements and attempts to harmonise the way in which intellectual property rights (IPR’s) are protected all over the world. TRIPS deals with copyright and related rights ,trademarks including service marks; geographical indications including appellations of origin; industrial designs; patents including the protection of new varieties of plants; the layout-designs of integrated circuits; and undisclosed information including trade secrets and test data.
The agreement on TRIPS provides for
How basic principles of the trading system and other international intellectual property agreements should be applied
How to give adequate protection to intellectual property rights
How countries should enforce those rights adequately in their own territories
How to settle disputes on intellectual property between members of the WTO
Special transitional arrangements during the period when the new system is being introduced
The agreement on TRIPS provides for minimum standards of protection on IPR’s but does not prevent members from providing extensive or TRIPS + protection
Moreover members have the added flexibility to apply any system for the implementation of IRIPS that best suits their legal system
Finally, members the access and the right to take their disagreements on TRIPS to the Dispute settlement Body of the WTO
TRIPS and public health
Geographical indications
Article 27.3(b), protection for plants and animals, traditional knowledge and biodiversity
Non-violation complaints (Article 64.2)
Technology transfer
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