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Module Vii

The document discusses the concept of development and its various forms, including economic, social, cultural, scientific, and technological aspects. It highlights the evolution of intellectual property (IP) rights, the significance of the TRIPS Agreement, and the WIPO Development Agenda, which includes 45 recommendations aimed at assisting both developed and developing countries. Additionally, it covers key legal concepts such as public domain, exhaustion of rights, and geographical indications, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities for developing countries in IP protection.

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Jacky Kang
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3 views8 pages

Module Vii

The document discusses the concept of development and its various forms, including economic, social, cultural, scientific, and technological aspects. It highlights the evolution of intellectual property (IP) rights, the significance of the TRIPS Agreement, and the WIPO Development Agenda, which includes 45 recommendations aimed at assisting both developed and developing countries. Additionally, it covers key legal concepts such as public domain, exhaustion of rights, and geographical indications, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities for developing countries in IP protection.

Uploaded by

Jacky Kang
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

MODULE VII Intellectual Property &

Development
THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
All Countries seek development (even developing or developed).
There is not just one kind of “development”. It could be categorized into:
Economic
Social and
cultural and
Scientific and
Technological.

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


IP EVOLUTION: THE PATH TO WHERE WE STAND
IP rights are needed to reward innovators, but a highly sensitive balance must be
maintained.
Today developing and least developed countries have a certain level of IP
protection.
Now developed countries progress may have been facilitated by then lax
international IP protection. Should developing countries have the same treatment?
The milestone that narrowed different levels of protection among developed and
developing countries was the TRIPS Agreement (1994).
However, TRIPS Agreement leave countries some room for adapting their laws
(flexibilities.)

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


WIPO DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
Product of the ongoing discussion on the economic and social rationale of IP.
Helps WIPO perform other goals (e.g. technical assistance, new treaties, etc.) with a
clearer view of what is beneficial for its members, developing and developed.
Consists of 45 recommendations in the following clusters:
Technical assistance
Norm-setting, flexibilities
Technology transfer, access to knowledge
Assessment, evaluation and impact studies

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS / COOPERATION
Bilateral/Regional Free Trade Agreements: Popular nowadays as per the difficulty
of new/updates on multilateral agreements.
For trademarks and Geographical indications, these generally provide symmetrical
obligations between the parties (one developed, one developing).
International Cooperation: WIPO is the international leader with programs such as
Technical Assistance for (i) National IP strategies (ii) Policy and legislative advice (iii) IP
office business solutions.
IP Offices from developed countries also provide technical assistance to developing
countries offices (Such as the French, Danish, Swiss, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and US,
IP Offices).

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


KEY INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CONCEPTS
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Defined as creative works not protected by IP rights are available for anyone to use.
Trademarks. All signs that are ineligible for or excluded from protection. (Trademark
rights are limited in several respects).
Industrial designs have a limited term of protection (10 or 25 years) after which the
design falls into the public domain.
Geographical indications have flexibilities for wines and spirits even if public is not
misled.
Delimitating the public domain is a flexibility allowed by TRIPS, each country should
design rules to maximise the benefits and reduce the costs of IP protection.

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


KEY INTERNATIONAL LEGAL CONCEPTS
EXHAUSTION OF RIGHTS (PARALLEL IMPORTS)
The exhaustion principle means that if IP are first marketed in one country with the consent of
the local IP right holder and, afterwards, are transported to another country, the importation
could, or could not, constitute an infringement of the IP rights in the import country (even if
imported by someone else than the authorized distributor)
The courts in many countries decided to hold that once the IP rights in relation to goods had
been lawfully exercised in one country, the IP holder could not assert his or her IP rights in
respect of those same goods in any other country (principle of exhaustion).
Exhaustion generally operate internationally however exhaustion can also operate regionally
or nationally
According to the TRIPS Agreement, Member States are free to apply or not the exhaustion
principle.

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY


GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
GI already benefit from a mature IPR protection system.
Issues:
Successfully commercializing and exporting GI branded products.
Developing countries do not always see immediately the benefits of protecting their
GIs.
Structural obstacles like training of local producers.
Quality control, organization of producer associations,
Packaging and promotion of GI products.

WIPO FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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