TRIPS news back to top
News
about the TRIPS Council and intellectual property in the WTO, prepared
for non-specialists.
> Follow specific TRIPS issues, e.g: TRIPS and health; geographical indications; protection for plants and animals, traditional knowledge and biodiversity; etc. See below.
Intellectual
property rights and the TRIPS Agreement back to top What
are intellectual property rights?
Intellectual property rights are the rights given
to people over the creations of their minds. Basic
introduction to the WTO’s intellectual
property (TRIPS) agreement
From “Understanding the WTO”, an
introduction to the WTO, written for
non-specialists. A
more detailed overview of the TRIPS Agreement
“The TRIPS Agreement ... is to date the most
comprehensive multilateral agreement on
intellectual property ...” The
text of the TRIPS Agreement
Browse or download from the legal texts gateway.
The TRIPS Agreement is Annex 1C of the Marrakesh
Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization.
Other intellectual property conventions that the TRIPS Agreement
refers to:
The
Paris Convention,
Berne Convention,
Rome
Convention, and
treaty on integrated circuits.
Find decisions of WTO bodies concerning the TRIPS Agreement in the
Analytical Index — Guide to WTO Law
and Practice Frequently-asked
questions on TRIPS
Check to see if the answers to your questions are
in one of these. Videos
on TRIPS
Specific TRIPS issues back to top
News and explanations of some current TRIPS issues.
Overview: Current issues in intellectual property
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
Least developed countries’
priority needs
An overview of the process of identifying and responding to least
developed countries’ needs, with links to working materials, updates and
tools for coordinating the work.
TRIPS
work in the WTO back to top Work
of the TRIPS Council
The TRIPS Council administers the TRIPS
Agreement. It consists of all WTO members.
Follow the link above to search for minutes of the council’s
meetings, its reports to the WTO General Council, and other TRIPS
Council documents.
 TRIPS Council “special sessions”
These are for negotiations on a multilateral system for notifying and registering geographical indications for wines and spirits, under the Doha Development Agenda.
Follow the link above to search for minutes of the meetings, reports and other documents from the negotiations.
Notifications —
members’ transparency toolkit
Members share information on their intellectual property laws,
regulations and practices through notifications submitted to the TRIPS
Council. The toolkit includes procedures for sharing information, and
other aids for members’ transparency work. Review of members’ implementing legislation
Members have to notify the TRIPS Council about their relevant laws and regulations. This helps the Council review the agreement’s operation.
Technical
cooperation in the TRIPS area
In particular, developed countries’ commitments under the TRIPS Agreement on
technical cooperation, and the work of the TRIPS
Council in this area.
Disputes back to top Disputes
citing the TRIPS Agreement
Disputes arising from the obligations under the
TRIPS Agreement are subject to the WTO’s
dispute settlement procedures. History:
derestricted Uruguay Round negotiating documents on TRIPS back to top
On 15 May 2006, the General Council
decided to make public all official documents issued under the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This includes
all official documents on TRIPS and other areas of the Uruguay
Round negotiations. Information on how to access these
documents can be found
here.
As an alternative for TRIPS
scholars, posted here in response to numerous requests, are
the official documents on the subject from the 1986–94 Uruguay
Round trade talks. They give scholars a picture of how the
TRIPS Agreement came about. The documents include reports of
meetings, other materials compiled by the GATT Secretariat,
and communications from participants in the negotiations.
Search Documents Online
Documents of the Uruguay
Round on TRIPS bear the document code MTN.GNG/TRIPS/* or MTN.GNG/NG11/* (where *
takes additional values).
These links open a new window: allow a moment for the results to appear.
> quick help with downloading
> comprehensive help on Documents Online
Uruguay Round — Group of Negotiations on Goods —
Negotiating Group on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,
including Trade in Counterfeit Goods Note: many of
the documents below are in legacy
RFT format Documents series: MTN.GNG/NG11/
(documents up to July 1990)
Documents series: MTN.GNG/TRIPS/ (documents from
1991 onwards)
You can perform more sophisticated searches from the
Documents Online search facility by defining multiple search criteria such as document symbol (i.e. code number),
notification number, requirement subject, trade coverage, full text search or document date.
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