Global Categorisation of International Intellectual Property Laws

With the expansion of the internet in the world, information has become more accessible to people. With this, an issue occurs that anyone can access the data and use it in their own way. To protect the rights of the work such as database, software, traditional knowledge, etc. 

For many of these intellectual property rights issues, different countries established global laws that provide protection for the original work. Below different treaties and conventions are mentioned for copyrights, trademarks, patents trade secrets and unfair competition.

What are International IP Laws?

International Intellectual property law is a combination of multilateral and bilateral agreements. These laws are important for the protection of trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Since, the past few years there has been a revolutionary appeal towards technology, domain names, databases, software, and traditional knowledge. 

Protecting intellectual property is an important task which aims to provide legal security. International laws have been spread all over the world for the promotion of assets and IP rights. All over the world, each country has its own legislation according to which different countries have different IPR protection.

IP law basically deals with the rules for the security of legal rights, inventions, designs, and artistic works. Intangible assets are under full control. Purposely this law gives an incentive to people to develop creative works that benefit society. The Law has given many protection measures by ensuring that they can profit from their works without fear of misappropriation by others.

Protection Against Infringement

Unauthorized use of any intellectual property is known as infringement. Owners should take some steps to protect against infringement. These steps are taken to put the world on notice that their rights exist. Notice helps to determine infringement by making it visible to those who might inadvertently violate it. Legal benefits are triggered which puts the owner in a position.

Patent numbers are assigned by the owners to protect their inventions. Patent pending is a status which also provides the copyright before the patent has been awarded. Addition in the government database takes place by placing the appropriate symbol.

What is WIPO?

The WIPO stands for World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an organization to protects and promotes intellectual property throughout the world. United Nations is the parent organization of WIPO. The main responsibility of WIPO is to promote Intellectual property law and facilitate the transfer of technology. This is related to industrial property to the developing countries in order to accelerate economic, social and cultural development, subject to competence.

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• Paris Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
• Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
• World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement.

The WTO dispute settlement is about institutions such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and WTO. There are some organisations such as WIPO and WTO that administer treaties and various conventions related to the different International Intellectual Property Laws.

Common Categories of IP Law Across the Globe

The common categories of intellectual property are followed across the globe along with governing regulations are stated below:

Copyright

• Berne Convention (1886): The Berne Convention is the oldest body governing copyright protection. It has minimum standards for protecting copyrights that each member country must follow. The 1971 latest version bars the discrimination of foreign work and promotes national treatment of the applicants in all the member nations. 
• TRIPS Agreement (1994): After the Uruguay Round Table Conference, the TRIPS Agreement was incorporated by the WTO. This agreement includes the compliance of the Berne Convention and advanced intellectual work such as computer programs with the ambit of copyrights. However, it does not include moral rights as mentioned in Article 6(b) of the Berne Convention.
• WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996): It is a special agreement under the Berne Convention which deals with the protection of works and the rights of the authors in the digital environment. 

Trademark

• Trademark Law Treaty (1994): The TLT was adopted on October 27, 1994, at a Diplomatic Conference in Geneva. The purpose of this is to simplify and harmonize the administrative procedures with respect to national applications and the protection of marks.
• Singapore Treaty of Law of Trademark (2006): The purpose of the Singapore treaty is to create a modern and dynamic international framework for the harmonization of administrative trademark registration procedures.
• WIPO- Madrid System: The Madrid system is an effective way of registering and managing trademarks worldwide. By applying through a single application get protection in up to 130 countries.

Patents

• Paris Convention (1883): The agreement gives the right to priority to an IP holder for a period of 12 months over other applicants for a similar patent.
• European Patent Convention: The EPC grants patents on the basis of a single European procedure and through a single application. It creates a uniform body to provide easier, cheaper and stronger protection for inventions in the contracting states.
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (1970): The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) helps in patent protection for an invention with each of a large number of countries by filing an "international" patent application.

Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition

• TRIPS Agreement: The agreement requires undisclosed information trade secrets, or know-how to benefit from the protection. As per Article 39.2, the protection must given to information that has commercial value and is a secret.
• Paris Convention (1883): This act of competition which is in contrast to the honest practices of industrial practice, means practicing unfair competition. The convention provides protection to each contracting state against unfair competition. In article 10 bis (3) the companies should avoid the following things: 
  • Creating confusion
  • Making false allegations
  • Misleading conduct

Conclusion

The National IP laws protect the intellectual property within one country but in case you want to participate in other countries as well then you must know about international intellectual property laws. The international IP laws work worldwide to protect copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc. At the same time, the business and creators can file an application in multiple countries. For this step, getting help from the experts will be beneficial. Reach out to Registrationwala, our experts will help you in filing the different applications in different counties.

Author: Dushyant Sharma

Hey there, I'm Dushyant Sharma. With the extensive knowledge I've gained in past 8 years, I have been creating content on various subjects such as banking, insurance, telecom, and all the important registration and licensing processes for various companies. I'm here to help everyone with my expertise in these areas through my articles.