World Trade Organisation & Intelllectual Property Rights

developed by GURJEIT SINGH

World Trade Organization Intellectual Property Rights

I nt r oduct i on GA TT W TO Intellectual Property Patents Trademarks Copyright

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

INTRODUCTION 1.1 History 1.2 Failed Proposals

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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1.1 History World War II, global military conflict that, in terms of lives lost and material destruction, was the most devastating war in human history. It began in 1939 as a European conflict between Germany and an Anglo-French coalition but eventually widened to include most of the nations of the world. It ended in 1945, leaving a new world order dominated by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). More than any previous war, World War II involved the commitment of nations’ entire human and economic resources, the blurring of the distinction between combatant and noncombatant, and the expansion of the battlefield to include all of the enemy’s territory. The most important determinants of its outcome were industrial capacity and personnel. In the last stages of the war, two radically new weapons were introduced: the long-range rocket and the atomic bomb. In the main, however, the war was fought with the same or improved weapons of the types used in World War I (1914-1918). The greatest advances were in aircraft and tanks. A rough consensus has been reached on the total cost of the war. The human cost is estimated at 55 million dead—25 million in the military and 30 million civilians. The amount of money spent has been estimated at more than $1 trillion, which makes World War II more expensive than all other wars combined. Bretton Woods Conference, popular name of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference that took place July 1-22, 1944, at Bretton Woods, a vacation resort in New Hampshire. The conference was attended by representatives of 44 nations, during World War II to shape a program for international economic cooperation. Conference resulted in the creation of the International Monetary Fund to help stabilize international exchange rates, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to provide economic assistance to war-ravaged nations, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). These organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement. The summary of agreements states, "The nations should consult and agree on international monetary changes which affect each other. They should outlaw practices which are agreed to be harmful to world prosperity, and they should assist each other to overcome short-term exchange difficulties." The main terms of this agreement were: 1. Formation of the IMF and the IBRD (presently part of the World Bank). 2. Adjustably pegged foreign exchange market rate system: The exchange rates were fixed, with the provision of changing them if necessary. 3. Currencies were required to be convertible for trade related and other current account transactions. The governments, however, had the power to regulate ostentatious capital flows. 4. As it was possible that exchange rates thus established might not be favourable to a country's balance of payments position, the governments had the power to revise them by up to 10%. 5. All member countries were required to subscribe to the IMF's capital.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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One of the conference outcomes was to set up a new international monetary system, replacing the international gold standard that had collapsed during the Great Depression. The U.S. dollar played a key role in the new system, becoming, in effect, the world’s currency. This was true, first, because all IMF members defined the value of their own currencies in terms of the dollar and, second, because the United States agreed to convert all dollars held by foreign governments into gold on demand and at the exchange rate agreed on when the IMF was established. This meant that the world was on a “gold exchange standard” since governments could change their currencies into gold via the U.S. dollar. 1.2 Failed Proposals 1. International Trade Organization — The Conference also proposed the creation of an International Trade Organization (ITO) to establish rules and regulations for international trade. The ITO would have complemented the other two Bretton Woods proposed international bodies: the IMF and the World Bank. The ITO charter was agreed on at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Employment (held in Havana, Cuba, in March 1948), but was not ratified by the U.S. Senate. As a result, the ITO never came into existence. The GATT would over the years "transform itself" into a de facto international organization. It was contemplated that the GATT would be applied for several years until the ITO came into force. Seven rounds of negotiations occurred under GATT before the eighth round - the Uruguay Round - concluded in 1994 with the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the GATT's replacement. The GATT principles and agreements were adopted by the WTO, which was charged with administering and extending them. 2. International Clearing Union — The International Clearing Union (ICU) would be a global bank whose job would be to regulate trade between nations. The ICU would make all international trade be done in its own currency called a bancor. The bancor would have a fixed exchange rate with other national currencies, and would be used to measure the balance of trade between nations. Every good exported would add bancors to a country's account, every good imported would subtract them. Each nation would then be given large incentives to keep their bancor balance within a very close percentage to zero. If a nation had too high a bancor surplus the ICU would take a percentage of that surplus and put it into the Clearing Union's Reserve Fund. This taking of surplus bancors would encourage nations with surpluses to buy other nations' exports, so they maintain a zero trade sum. Nations that imported more than they exported would have their currency deflated to encourage other nations to buy their products, and make imports more expensive.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS & TRADE 1.3 Introduction

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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1.3 Introduction General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) originated after World War II (1939-1945) as a charter for the International Trade Organization (ITO), a proposed specialized agency of the United Nations. GATT was signed by 23 nations at a trade conference in 1947 and became effective in January 1948. Although the ITO failed to win ratification by the United States Congress in 1950 and never came into being, the GATT remained in use to govern international trade. It is a treaty among international trade organization in existence from 1948 to 1995. GATT members, known as contracting parties, worked to minimize tariffs, quotas, preferential trade agreements between countries, and other barriers to international trade. GATT was founded on the principle of nondiscrimination and the most-favored-nation (MFN) clause, which required members to treat all other contracting parties equally. Once a member reduced a tariff for another member country, that reduction applied to all member countries. However, an escape clause allowed a nation to withdraw its tariff reduction if it seriously harmed the country's domestic producers. The latter says that a country cannot restrict or promote imports of certain goods from country A if it does not do so from countries B to Z as well - all countries' imports must get the same deal. The former says that, once a good has entered the country, it must be treated no differently than "like" goods produced domestically. In practice, these rules also mean that a country cannot discriminate against goods produced in an environmentally damaging way, such as paper made by chlorine bleaching. This is because the GATT interprets "like goods" to be those which are similar at point of import. Most of the rounds dealt with tariff reduction only, but as tariffs came down, non-tariff barriers went up. The Kennedy round (1964-1967) came to agreement on anti-dumping. And the Tokyo Round went further; dealing with subsidies and countervailing measures, technical barriers to trade, import licensing procedures, government procurement and other non-tariff areas of concern. GATT members sponsored eight specially organized rounds of trade negotiations. The last round of negotiations, called the Uruguay Round, began in 1986 and ended in 1994. At the end of the negotiations, the members of GATT, as well as representatives from seven other nations, signed a trade pact that will eventually cut tariffs overall by about one-third and reduce or eliminate other obstacles to trade. The pact also took steps toward opening trade in investments and services among member nations and strengthening protection for intellectual property—that is, creative works that can be protected legally. The 1994 trade agreement officially took effect in January 1995, but it will be years before its provisions are fully implemented.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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The GATT 1994 Agreements included: Agriculture Agreement where reduced subsidies for agricultural products would allow for increased production in developing countries, and reduce use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers. Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Anti-Dumping and Safeguard Measures Agreements Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures Agreement on Textiles and Clothing tries to do away with a long-standing protectionist agreement called the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA) which effectively restricted developed country imports of textiles and clothing from developing countries. The 1994 GATT pact also provided for establishment of the WTO. In 1995 GATT's functions were taken over by the World Trade Organization (WTO), an international body that administers trade laws and provides a forum for settling trade disputes among nations. Throughout 1995, GATT and the WTO coexisted while GATT members sought their governments' approval for WTO membership. After the transition period, GATT ceased to exist. All of the 128 nations that were contracting parties to the 1994 GATT agreement eventually transferred membership to the WTO. Although the WTO operates a dispute settlement process similar to the one under GATT, it has stronger power to enforce agreements, including authority to issue trade sanctions against a country that refuses to revoke an offending law or practice. Rounds: GATT/WTO held a total of 8 rounds. GATT and WTO trade rounds Name

Start

Duration Countries Subjects covered Achievements

Geneva

7 April 1947 23 months

Tariffs

Signing of GATT, 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion of trade

Annecy

April 1949

5 13 months

Tariffs

Countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions Countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%

Torquay

September 8 38 1951 months

Tariffs

Geneva II

January 1956

Tariffs, admission $2.5 billion in tariff of Japan reductions

5 26 months

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WTO & IPR

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Tariff concessions worth $4.9 billion of world trade

Dillon

September 11 1960 26 months 1961

Tariffs

Kennedy

May 1964 1967

Tariffs, Antidumping

Tokyo

September 74 1973 102 months 1979

Tariffs, non-tariff Tariff reductions worth measures, more than $300 billion "framework" dollars achieved agreements

September 87 1986 123 months 1994

Tariffs, non-tariff measures, rules, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, textiles, agriculture, creation of WTO, etc

The round led to the creation of WTO, and extended the range of trade negotiations, leading to major reductions in tariffs (about 40%) and agricultural subsidies, an agreement to allow full access for textiles and clothing from developing countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights.

November 2001

Tariffs, non-tariff measures, agriculture, labor standards, The round is not yet environment, concluded. competition, investment, transparency, patents etc

Uruguay

Doha

37 62 months

141

Tariff concessions worth $40 billion of world trade

The 1994 GATT treaty was one of the most ambitious international trade agreements to be signed by such a large number of nations. A number of groups, including environmentalists, human-rights activists, and labor organizations in the United States and other countries, argued against the treaty, claiming that it failed to link trade preferences to protections for environment and workers rights.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION 1.4 Meaning 1.5 Facts 1.6 Functions 1.7 Role 1.8 Principles 1.9 Benefits 1.10 Criticism

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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1.4 Meaning The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. It’s an organization for liberalizing trade. It’s a forum for governments to negotiate trade agreements. It’s a place for them to settle trade disputes. It operates a system of trade rules. 1.5 Facts Location: Geneva, Switzerland Established: 1 January 1995 Created by: Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94) Membership: 153 countries on 23 July 2008 Budget: 189 million Swiss francs for 2009 Secretariat staff: 625 Head: Pascal Lamy (Director-General) 1.6 Functions • Administering WTO trade agreements • Forum for trade negotiations • Handling trade disputes • Monitoring national trade policies • Technical assistance and training for developing countries • Cooperation with other international organizations 1.7 Role It’s a negotiating forum - The WTO is a place where member governments go, to try to sort out the trade problems they face with each other. The first step is to talk. The WTO was born out of negotiations, and everything the WTO does is the result of negotiations. The bulk of the WTO's current work comes from the 1986-94 negotiations called the Uruguay Round and earlier negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The WTO is currently the host to new negotiations, under the “Doha Development Agenda” launched in 2001. Where countries have faced trade barriers and wanted them lowered, the negotiations have helped to liberalize trade. But the WTO is not just about liberalizing trade, and in some circumstances its rules support maintaining trade barriers — for example to protect consumers or prevent the spread of disease. It’s a set of rules - At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations. These documents provide the legal ground-rules for international commerce. They are essentially contracts, binding governments to keep their |10|

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WTO & IPR

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trade policies within agreed limits. Although negotiated and signed by governments, the goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business, while allowing governments to meet social and environmental objectives. The system’s overriding purpose is to help trade flow as freely as possible — so long as there are no undesirable side-effects — because this is important for economic development and well-being. That partly means removing obstacles. It also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy. In other words, the rules have to be “transparent” and predictable. It helps to settle disputes - Trade relations often involve conflicting interests. Agreements, including those painstakingly negotiated in the WTO system, often need interpreting. The most harmonious way to settle these differences is through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation. That is the purpose behind the dispute settlement process written into the WTO agreements. 1.8 Principles of Trading System The WTO agreements are lengthy and complex because they are legal texts covering a wide range of activities. They deal with: agriculture, textiles and clothing, banking, telecommunications, government purchases, industrial standards and product safety, food sanitation regulations, intellectual property, and much more. But a number of simple, fundamental principles run throughout all of these documents. These principles are the foundation of the multilateral trading system. The trading system should be: 1. Trade without discrimination 1. a. Most-favoured-nation (MFN): treating other people equally Under the WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners. Grant someone a special favour (such as a lower customs duty rate for one of their products) and you have to do the same for all other WTO members. Some exceptions are allowed. For example, countries can set up a free trade agreement that applies only to goods traded within the group — discriminating against goods from outside. Or they can give developing countries special access to their markets. Or a country can raise barriers against products that are considered to be traded unfairly from specific countries. And in services, countries are allowed, in limited circumstances, to discriminate. But the agreements only permit these exceptions under strict conditions. In general, MFN means that every time a country lowers a trade barrier or opens up a market, it has to do so for the same goods or services from all its trading partners — whether rich or poor, weak or strong.

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WTO & IPR

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1. b. National treatment: Treating foreigners and locals equally imported and locallyproduced goods should be treated equally — at least after the foreign goods have entered the market. The same should apply to foreign and domestic services, and to foreign and local trademarks, copyrights and patents. This principle of “national treatment” giving others the same treatment as one’s own nationals. National treatment only applies once a product, service or item of intellectual property has entered the market. Therefore, charging customs duty on an import is not a violation of national treatment even if locally-produced products are not charged an equivalent tax. 2. Freer trade: gradually, through negotiation Lowering trade barriers is one of the most obvious means of encouraging trade. The barriers concerned include customs duties (or tariffs) and measures such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively. From time to time other issues such as red tape and exchange rate policies have also been discussed. Since GATT’s creation in 1947-48 there have been nine rounds of trade negotiations. At first these focused on lowering tariffs (customs duties) on imported goods. As a result of the negotiations, by the mid-1990s industrial countries’ tariff rates on industrial goods had fallen steadily to less than 4%. But by the 1980s, the negotiations had expanded to cover non-tariff barriers on goods, and to the new areas such as services and intellectual property. Opening markets can be beneficial, but it also requires adjustment. The WTO agreements allow countries to introduce changes gradually, through “progressive liberalization”. Developing countries are usually given longer to fulfill their obligations. 3. Predictability: through binding and transparency Sometimes, promising not to raise a trade barrier can be as important as lowering one, because the promise gives businesses a clearer view of their future opportunities. With stability and predictability, investment is encouraged, jobs are created and consumers can fully enjoy the benefits of competition — choice and lower prices. The multilateral trading system is an attempt by governments to make the business environment stable and predictable. In the WTO, when countries agree to open their markets for goods or services, they “bind” their commitments. For goods, these bindings amount to ceilings on customs tariff rates. Sometimes countries tax imports at rates that are lower than the bound rates. Frequently this is the case in developing countries. In developed countries the rates actually charged and the bound rates tend to be the same. A country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. One of the achievements of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade talks was to increase the amount of trade under binding commitments. In agriculture, 100% of products now have bound tariffs. The result of all this: a substantially higher degree of market security for traders and investors.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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The system tries to improve predictability and stability in other ways as well. One way is to discourage the use of quotas and other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports — administering quotas can lead to more red-tape and accusations of unfair play. Another is to make countries’ trade rules as clear and public (“transparent”) as possible. Many WTO agreements require governments to disclose their policies and practices publicly within the country or by notifying the WTO. 4. Promoting fair competition The WTO is sometimes described as a “free trade” institution, but that is not entirely accurate. The system does allow tariffs and, in limited circumstances, other forms of protection. More accurately, it is a system of rules dedicated to open, fair and undistorted competition. The rules on non-discrimination — MFN and national treatment — are designed to secure fair conditions of trade. So too are those on dumping (exporting at below cost to gain market share) and subsidies. The issues are complex, and the rules try to establish what is fair or unfair, and how governments can respond, in particular by charging additional import duties calculated to compensate for damage caused by unfair trade. Many of the other WTO agreements aim to support fair competition: in agriculture, intellectual property, services, for example. The agreement on government procurement (a “plurilateral” agreement because it is signed by only a few WTO members) extends competition rules to purchases by thousands of government entities in many countries. And so on. 5. Encouraging development and economic reform The WTO system contributes to development. On the other hand, developing countries need flexibility in the time they take to implement the system’s agreements. And the agreements themselves inherit the earlier provisions of GATT that allow for special assistance and trade concessions for developing countries. Over three quarters of WTO members are developing countries and countries in transition to market economies. During the seven and a half years of the Uruguay Round, over 60 of these countries implemented trade liberalization programmes autonomously. At the same time, developing countries and transition economies were much more active and influential in the Uruguay Round negotiations than in any previous round, and they are even more so in the current Doha Development Agenda. At the end of the Uruguay Round, developing countries were prepared to take on most of the obligations that are required of developed countries. But the agreements did give them transition periods to adjust to the more unfamiliar and, perhaps, difficult WTO provisions — particularly so for the poorest, “least-developed” countries. A ministerial decision adopted at the end of the round says better-off countries should accelerate implementing market access commitments on goods exported by the least-developed countries, and it seeks increased technical assistance for them. More recently, developed countries have started to allow duty-free and quota-free imports for almost all products from least-developed |13|

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WTO & IPR

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countries. On all of this, the WTO and its members are still going through a learning process. The current Doha Development Agenda includes developing countries’ concerns about the difficulties they face in implementing the Uruguay Round agreements. 1.9 Benefits of WTO 1. The system helps to keep the peace The system does contribute to international peace. Peace is partly an outcome of two fundamental principles of the trading system: helping trade to flow smoothly and providing countries with a constructive and fair outlet for dealing with disputes over trade issues. It is also an outcome of the international confidence and cooperation that the system creates and reinforces. 2. The system allows disputes to be handled constructively As trade expands in volume, in the number of products traded, and in the numbers of countries and companies trading, there is a greater chance that disputes will arise. If left to themselves, those disputes could lead to serious conflict. A lot of international trade tension is reduced because countries can turn to organizations, in particular the WTO, to settle their trade disputes. When they bring disputes to the WTO, the WTO’s procedure focuses their attention on the rules. Once a ruling has been made, countries concentrate on trying to comply with the rules, and perhaps later renegotiating the rules — not on declaring war on each other. Around 300 disputes have been brought to the WTO since it was set up in 1995. 3. A system based on rules rather than power makes life easier for all The WTO cannot claim to make all countries equal. But it does reduce some inequalities, giving smaller countries more voice, and at the same time freeing the major powers from the complexity of having to negotiate trade agreements with each of their numerous trading partners. Decisions in the WTO are made by consensus. The WTO agreements were negotiated by all members, were approved by consensus and were ratified in all members’ parliaments. The agreements apply to everyone. Rich and poor countries alike have an equal right to challenge each other in the WTO’s dispute settlement procedures. 4. Freer trade cuts the cost of living We are all consumers. The prices we pay for our food and clothing, our necessities and luxuries, and everything else in between, are affected by trade policies. Protectionism is expensive: it raises prices. The WTO’s global system lowers trade barriers through negotiation and applies the principle of non-discrimination. The result is reduced costs of production (because imports used in production are cheaper) and reduced prices of finished goods and services, and ultimately a lower cost of living. 5. It gives consumers more choices, and a broader range of qualities to choose from

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WTO & IPR

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Think of all the things we can now have because we can import them: fruits and vegetables out of season, foods, clothing and other products that used to be considered exotic, cut flowers from any part of the world, all sorts of household goods, books, music, movies, and so on. If trade allows us to import more, it also allows others to buy more of our exports. It increases our incomes, providing us with the means of enjoying the increased choice. 6. Trade raises incomes Lowering trade barriers allows trade to increase, which adds to incomes — national incomes and personal incomes. But some adjustment is necessary. The WTO’s own estimates for the impact of the 1994 Uruguay Round trade deal were between $109 billion and $510 billion added to world income. 7. Trade stimulates economic growth and that can be good news for employment Trade clearly has the potential to create jobs. In practice there is often factual evidence that lower trade barriers have been good for employment because trade boosts economic growth, and that economic growth means more jobs. It is also true that some jobs are lost even when trade is expanding. The picture is not the same all over the world. The average length of time a worker takes to find a new job can be much longer in one country than for a similar worker in another country experiencing similar conditions. 8. The basic principles make the system economically more efficient, and they cut costs Many of the benefits of the trading system are more difficult to summarize in numbers, but they are still important. They are the result of essential principles at the heart of the system, and they make life simpler for the enterprises directly involved in trade and for the producers of goods and services. Trade allows a division of labour between countries. It allows resources to be used more appropriately and effectively for production. But the WTO’s trading system offers more than that. It helps to increase efficiency and to cut costs even more because of important principles enshrined in the system. Imagine now that the government announces it will charge the same duty rates on imports from all countries, and it will use the same regulations for all products, no matter where they come from, whether imported or locally produced. Life for the company would be much simpler. Sourcing components would become more efficient and would cost less. 9. The system shields governments from narrow interests The GATT-WTO system which evolved in the second half of the 20th Century helps governments take a more balanced view of trade policy. Governments are better-placed to defend themselves against lobbying from narrow interest groups by focusing on tradeoffs that are made in the interests of everyone in the economy.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

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10. The system encourages good government Under WTO rules, once a commitment has been made to liberalize a sector of trade, it is difficult to reverse. The rules also discourage a range of unwise policies. For businesses, that means greater certainty and clarity about trading conditions. For governments it can often mean good discipline. Many other areas of the WTO’s agreements can also help reduce corruption and bad government. Quite often, governments use the WTO as a welcome external constraint on their policies: “we can’t do this because it would violate the WTO agreements”. 1.10 Reasons to Oppose the WTO 1. The WTO Is Fundamentally Undemocratic The policies of the WTO impact all aspects of society and the planet, but it is not a democratic, transparent institution. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative gets heavy input for negotiations from 17 "Industry Sector Advisory Committees." Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret. Who elected this secret global government? 2. The WTO Will Not Make Us Safer The WTO would like you to believe that creating a world of "free trade" will promote global understanding and peace. On the contrary, the domination of international trade by rich countries for the benefit of their individual interests fuels anger and resentment that make us less safe. To build real global security, we need international agreements that respect people's rights to democracy and trade systems that promote global justice. 3. The WTO Tramples Labor and Human Rights WTO rules put the "rights" of corporations to profit over human and labor rights. The WTO encourages a 'race to the bottom' in wages by pitting workers against each other rather than promoting internationally recognized labor standards. The WTO has ruled that it is illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced, such as with child labor. It has also ruled that governments cannot take into account "non commercial values" such as human rights, or the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma when making purchasing decisions. 4. The WTO Would Privatize Essential Services The WTO is seeking to privatize essential public services such as education, health care, energy and water. Privatization means the selling off of public assets - such as radio airwaves or schools - to private (usually foreign) corporations, to run for profit rather than the public good. The WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, includes a list of about 160 threatened services including elder and child care, sewage, garbage, park maintenance, telecommunications, construction, banking, insurance, transportation, shipping, postal |16|

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services, and tourism. In some countries, privatization is already occurring. Those least able to pay for vital services - working class communities and communities of color - are the ones who suffer the most. 5. The WTO Is Destroying the Environment The WTO is being used by corporations to dismantle hard-won local and national environmental protections, which are attacked as "barriers to trade." The WTO is attempting to deregulate industries including logging, fishing, water utilities, and energy distribution, which will lead to further exploitation of these natural resources. 6. The WTO is Killing People The WTO's fierce defense of 'Trade Related Intellectual Property' rights (TRIPs)—patents, copyrights and trademarks—comes at the expense of health and human lives. The WTO has protected for pharmaceutical companies' 'right to profit' against governments seeking to protect their people's health by providing lifesaving medicines in countries in areas like subSaharan Africa, where thousands die every day from HIV/AIDS. Developing countries won an important victory in 2001 when they affirmed the right to produce generic drugs (or import them if they lacked production capacity), so that they could provide essential lifesaving medicines to their populations less expensively. Unfortunately, in September 2003, many new conditions were agreed to that will make it more difficult for countries to produce those drugs. Once again, the WTO demonstrates that it favors corporate profit over saving human lives. 7. The WTO is Increasing Inequality Free trade is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment (1960 to 1998) inequality worsened both internationally and within countries. The UN Development Program reports that the richest 20 percent of the world's population consume 86 percent of the world's resources while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. WTO rules have hastened these trends by opening up countries to foreign investment and thereby making it easier for production to go where the labor is cheapest and most easily exploited and environmental costs are low. 8. The WTO is Increasing Hunger Farmers produce enough food in the world to feed everyone -- yet because of corporate control of food distribution, as many as 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, food is a human right. In developing countries, as many as four out of every five people make their living from the land. But the leading principle in the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture is that market forces should control agricultural policies-rather than a national commitment to guarantee food security and maintain decent family farmer incomes. WTO policies have allowed dumping of heavily subsidized industrially produced food into poor countries, undermining local production and increasing hunger. 9. The WTO Hurts Poor, Small Countries in Favor of Rich Powerful Nations |17|

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The WTO supposedly operates on a consensus basis, with equal decision-making power for all. In reality, many important decisions get made in a process whereby poor countries' negotiators are not even invited to closed door meetings -- and then 'agreements' are announced that poor countries didn't even know were being discussed. Many countries do not even have enough trade personnel to participate in all the negotiations or to even have a permanent representative at the WTO. This severely disadvantages poor countries from representing their interests. Likewise, many countries are too poor to defend themselves from WTO challenges from the rich countries, and change their laws rather than pay for their own defense. 10. The WTO Undermines Local Level Decision-Making and National Sovereignty The WTO's "most favored nation" provision requires all WTO member countries to treat each other equally and to treat all corporations from these countries equally regardless of their track record. Local policies aimed at rewarding companies who hire local residents, use domestic materials, or adopt environmentally sound practices are essentially illegal under the WTO. Developing countries are prohibited from creating local laws that developed countries once pursued, such as protecting new, domestic industries until they can be internationally competitive. 11. The Tide is turning Against Free Trade and the WTO! International opposition to the WTO is growing. Massive protests in Seattle of 1999 brought over 50,000 people together to oppose the WTO—and succeeded in shutting the meeting down. When the WTO met in 2001, the Trade negotiators were unable meet their goals of expanding the WTO's reach. In Cancún, Mexico and Hong Kong, China, the WTO met thousands of activists in protest, scoring a major victory for democracy. Developing countries refused to give in to the rich countries' agenda of WTO expansion - and caused the talks to collapse!

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA 1.11 Meaning 1.12 Issues 1.13 Benefits

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1.11 Meaning The Doha Development Round is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which commenced in November 2001. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which allows countries to increase trade globally. As of 2008, talks have stalled over a divide on major issues, such as agriculture, industrial tariffs and non-tariff barriers, services, and trade remedies. The most significant differences are between developed nations led by the European Union (EU), the United States (USA), and Japan and the major developing countries led and represented mainly by India, Brazil, China, and South Africa. There is also considerable contention against and between the EU and the U.S. over their maintenance of agricultural subsidies—seen to operate effectively as trade barriers. The Doha Round began with a ministerial-level meeting in Doha, Qatar in 2001. Subsequent ministerial meetings took place in Cancún, Mexico (2003), Geneva, Switzerland (2004, 2006, and 2008), Hong Kong (2005), Paris, France (2005), and Potsdam, Germany (2007). The most recent round of negotiations, July 23-29 2008, broke down after failing to reach a compromise on agricultural import rules. 1.12 Issues: Discussed at DOHA  Agriculture Agriculture has become the most important and controversial issue. The United States is being asked by the European Union (EU) and the developing countries, led by Brazil and India, to make a more generous offer for reducing trade-distorting domestic support for agriculture. The United States is insisting that the EU and the developing countries agree to make more substantial reductions in tariffs and to limit the number of import-sensitive and special products that would be exempt from cuts. Import-sensitive products are of most concern to developed countries like the European Union, while developing countries are concerned with special products — those exempt from both tariff cuts and subsidy reductions because of development, food security, or livelihood considerations. Brazil has emphasized reductions in trade-distorting domestic subsidies, especially by the United States, while India has insisted on a large number of special products that would not be exposed to wider market opening.  Access to patented medicines A major topic at the Doha ministerial regarded the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The issue involves the balance of interests between the pharmaceutical companies in developed countries that held patents on medicines and the public health needs in developing countries. Before the Doha meeting, the United States claimed that the current language in TRIPS was flexible enough to address health emergencies, but other countries insisted on new language. On August 30, 2003, WTO members reached agreement on the TRIPS and medicines issue. Voting in the General Council, member governments approved a decision that offered an interim waiver under the TRIPS Agreement allowing a member country to export pharmaceutical products made under compulsory licenses to least-developed and certain other members.  Special and differential treatment |20|

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Developing countries wanted to negotiate on changes to special and differential (S&D) provisions, keep proposals together in the Committee on Trade and Development, and set shorter deadlines. Developed countries wanted to study S&D provisions, send some proposals to negotiating groups, and leave deadlines open. Developing countries claimed that the developed countries were not negotiating in good faith, while developed countries argued that the developing countries were unreasonable in their proposals. At the December 2005 Hong Kong ministerial, members agreed to five S&D provisions for least developed countries (LDCs), including the tariff-free and quota-free access.  Implementation issues Developing countries claim that they have had problems with the implementation of the agreements reached in the earlier Uruguay Round because of limited capacity or lack of technical assistance. They also claim that they have not realized certain benefits that they expected from the Round, such as increased access for their textiles and apparel in developed-country markets. They seek a clarification of language relating to their interests in existing agreements.

1.13 Benefits: of DOHA round All countries participating in the negotiations believe that there is some economic benefit in adopting the agreement. There is considerable disagreement of how much benefit the agreement would actually produce. It is found in a study, if all trade barriers in agriculture, services, and manufactures were reduced by 33% as a result of the Doha Development Agenda, there would be an increase in global welfare of $574.0 billion. And in another study it is found that global income could increase by more than $3000 billion per year, $2500 billion of which would go to the developing world. Others had been predicting more modest outcomes, i.e., world net welfare gains ranging from $84 billion to $287 billion by the year 2015. DDA is being considered as the second best investment for global welfare, after the provision of vitamin supplements to the world's 140 million malnourished children.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Types

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WTO & IPR

[23]

2.1 Introduction Protection of intellectual property rights has become an issue of wide and serious discussion with the formation of the General Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) under the Uruguay Round Agreement of GATT. Intellectual property rights allow the creators – or owners of patents, trademarks or copyrighted works – to benefit from their own work or investment in a creation. These rights are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides for the right to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship of any scientific, literary or artistic work. Intellectual Property Rights defined as creative works that have economic value and are protected by law. Intellectual property laws reward the creators of most types of intellectual property by preventing others from copying, performing, or distributing those works without permission. The main purpose of this protection is to provide incentives for people to produce scientific and creative works that benefit society at large. Some types of intellectual property are automatically protected by law from the moment of their creation. Other types require the creator to request a specific grant of rights from a government agency before they can be protected by law. Nearly all nations have laws protecting intellectual property. However, some nations do not vigorously enforce intellectual property laws, making illegal copying, or piracy, a major problem in these areas. Some forms of intellectual property, such as trademarks, date to ancient times. But comprehensive legal protection for intellectual property did not become common until the 18th century. International protection of intellectual property rights was first addressed in treaties beginning in the late 19th century. For example, the Paris Convention of 1883 dealt with patents and trademarks, and the Berne Convention of 1886 protected artistic and literary works among member countries. Since then, many additional international treaties have addressed intellectual property rights. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), based in Geneva, Switzerland, administers some of these treaties. 2.2 Types The types of intellectual property are patents, copyrights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, layout designs on integrated circuits, and undisclosed information, including trade secrets. Patent law protects inventions that demonstrate technological progress. Copyright law protects a variety of literary and artistic works, including paintings, sculpture, prose, poetry, plays, musical compositions, dances, photographs, motion pictures, radio and television programs, sound recordings, and computer software programs. Trademark law protects words, slogans, and symbols that serve to identify different brands of goods and services in the marketplace. Intellectual property also includes certain related fields of law, such as trade secrets and the right of publicity. Trade secret law protects confidential information that belongs to a business and gives that business a competitive advantage. For example, the formula for making the soft drink Coca-Cola is a trade secret protected by intellectual property laws. Right of publicity law protects the right to use one’s own name or likeness for commercial purposes. For example, a famous athlete may profit by using his or her name to endorse a |23|

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given product. Using a person’s name to endorse a product without their permission is a violation of right of publicity law. Intellectual property differs from other forms of property because it is intangible—that is, it is a product of the human imagination. Because intellectual property is intangible, many people may use it simultaneously without conflict. For example, only one person can drive a car at a time, but if an author publishes a book, many people can read the work at the same time. Intellectual property is also much easier to copy than it is to create. It may take many months of work to write a novel or computer program, but with a photocopy machine or a computer others could copy the work in a matter of seconds. Without intellectual property laws, it would be easy to duplicate original works and sell them for very low prices, leaving the original creators without any chance to secure economic rewards for their efforts. The legal system avoids this problem by making it against the law to reproduce various forms of intellectual property without the permission of the creator. Most intellectual property rights expire after a specified period. This permits the rest of society to benefit from the work after the creator has had an opportunity to earn a fair reward. For example, after the inventor of a patented telecommunications device has profited from the work for a specified period, anyone may manufacture that same device without paying the inventor royalties, thereby encouraging competition that allows others to benefit from the invention as well. The one exception to limited periods of intellectual property rights is in the field of trademark law. Trademark rights never expire, so long as a merchant continues to use the trademark to identify a given product.

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WTO & IPR

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PATENT 2.3 2.4 2.5

Introduction International Patent Law India’s Patent Law

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2.3 Introduction Patent is a legal document granted by the government giving an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing an invention for a specified number of years. A patent lasts for 20 years from the date of filing patent application, irrespective of whether it is filed with provisional or complete specification. However, for food, drug and insecticide patents, the life is seven years from the date of complete specification, or five years from date of sealing. The goal of the patent system is to encourage inventors to advance the state of technology by awarding them special rights to benefit from their inventions. Patent law is one branch of the larger legal field known as intellectual property, which also includes trademark and copyright law. Patent protection has great economic importance to a number of industries that rely on technological innovation to remain competitive, such as the chemical, pharmaceutical, and computer industries. Patents are also available for significant improvements on previously invented items. Special patents can be obtained for the invention or discovery and asexual reproduction of certain distinct and new types of vegetation. Patents may also be granted for certain types of industrial designs, such as a distinct tread pattern on the soles of hiking boots or tennis shoes. Computer programs have been granted patent protection, as have various living organisms, such as specialized mice that were bred to help in cancer research. In recent years the government has also allowed inventors to obtain patents on new ways of doing business, such as the method for conducting an auction on the Internet. Books, movies, and works of art cannot be patented, but protection is available for such items under the law of copyright. 2.4 International Patent Law The first treaty to deal with international patent law was the Paris Convention of 1883, which was originally adopted by 20 countries from around the world and has since been adopted by most others. In addition, most of the world’s nations have signed several other treaties dealing with patent issues during the 20th century. For example, nearly 150 countries have signed the 1994 Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which is administered by the World Trade Organization. This treaty generally strengthened legal protection for patents worldwide. However, in 2003, the member governments of TRIPS agreed to a relaxation of patent protection on certain medicines. This action was intended to allow poorer nations to import patented drugs at lower costs, specifically to treat patients suffering from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

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2.5 India’s Patent Law Patent protection is territorial right and therefore it is effective only within the territory of India. However, filing an application in India enables the applicant to file a corresponding application for same invention in convention countries, within or before expiry of twelve months from the filing date in India. Therefore, separate patents should be obtained in each country where the applicant requires protection of his invention in those countries. There is no patent valid worldwide. Legislation The Patent system in India is governed by The Patents Act, 1970 & The Patents Rules 1972, effective from April 20, 1972. Subsequently The Patents Act, 2005 is amended effective from January 1, 2005 & The Patents Rules, 2006 is amended effective from May 5, 2006. Administration The Patent Office, under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, has been established to administer the various provisions of the Patents Law relating to the grant of Patents & the Designs Law, relating to the registration of Industrial Designs. Membership of International Treaties Convention establishing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Trips Agreement under the World Trade Organization. Paris Convention for the protection of Industrial Property with effect from Dec. 7, 1998. Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with effective from Dec. 7, 1998. What Is Not Patentable (1) An invention that is frivolous or that claims anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws; (2) An invention the primary or intended use of which would be contrary to law or morality or injurious to public health; (3) The mere discovery of a scientific principle or the formulation of an abstract theory; (4) The mere discovery of any new property or new use for a known substance or of the mere use of a known process, machine or apparatus unless such known process results in a new product or employs at least one new reactant; (5) A substance obtained by a mere admixture resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components thereof or a process for producing such substance; (6) The mere arrangement or rearrangement or duplication of known devices, each functioning independently of one another in a known way; |27|

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(7) A method or process of testing applicable during the process of manufacture for rendering the machine, apparatus or other equipment more efficient, or for the improvement or restoration of the existing machine, apparatus or other equipment, or for the improvement or control of manufacture; (8) A method of agriculture or horticulture; (9) Inventions relating to atomic energy. In the case of inventions relating to substances prepared or produced by chemical processes (including alloys, optical glass, semiconductors and inter-metallic compounds) & substances intended for use or capable of being used as food. No patent will be granted in respect of claims for the substances themselves, but claims for the methods or processes of manufacture will be patented. Infringement Infringement can consist of taking away essential features of the patented invention; utilizing claimed features; copying patented substances; mechanical equivalence; taking part of the invention, while the patent is in force. Use by the government or for government purposes is not infringement. Such use must be paid for on terms to be agreed upon before or after use. Accidental or temporary use, use for research, use on foreign vessels, do not constitute infringement.

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

TRADEMARK 2.6 Introduction 2.7 History 2.8 India’s Trademark Law

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2.6 Introduction Trademark, any word, phrase, or symbol used by manufacturers or sellers to identify their goods and distinguish them from the goods of others. Trademarks help consumers identify goods they have used and enjoyed in the past. Trademarks also allow consumers to avoid goods and services that they dislike. A trademark lasts for 10 years from the date of registration. Examples of well-known trademarks include Coca-Cola for soft drinks, Kodak for film and Nike for footwear. When trademarks are used to identify services, such as hotel chains or restaurants, they are sometimes called service marks. The overall appearance of a product’s packaging is known as trade dress. Under modern business condition a trade mark performs four functions:    

It identifies the goods / or services and its origin. It guarantees its unchanged quality It advertises the goods/services It creates an image for the goods/ services.

Most countries of the world legally protect trademarks, service marks, and trade dress. Trademark law is one branch of the larger legal field known as intellectual property, which also includes copyright and patent law. Because consumers often continue to buy products they trust, well-known trademarks can be extremely valuable. For example, experts in trademark law estimate that the value of the Coca-Cola trademark is more than $40 billion. Terms such as "mark", "brand" and "logo" are sometimes used interchangeably with "trademark". "Trademark" includes any device, brand, label, name, signature, word, letter, numerical, shape of goods, packaging, colour or combination of colours, smell, sound, movement or any combination thereof which is capable of distinguishing goods and services of one business from those of others. It must be capable of graphical representation and must be applied to goods or services for which it is registered. A trademark is designated by the following symbols:

™ (for an unregistered trademark, that is, a mark used to promote or brand goods); ℠ (for an unregistered service mark, that is, a mark used to promote or brand services); and

® (for a registered trademark). 2.7 History Throughout history, makers of goods have put their names or other marks on things they produce. Items such as medieval swords and ancient Chinese pottery were marked with identifiable symbols so buyers could trace their origin and determine their quality. Before the 20th century, trademarks were usually symbols or pictures rather than words, since many people in the world could not read. Formal legal disputes over trademarks arose as far back as the early 17th century in England.

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As trade increased in the 19th century, many countries adopted laws recognizing the legal rights of trademark owners. These laws prohibited other sellers from using similar marks that might confuse the public about the source of a product. The first international agreement dealing with trademark law was a treaty known as the Paris Convention. Adopted in 1883, it required members to recognize the trademark rights of foreign producers. Most nations of the world are members of the Paris Convention. In 1994 most countries signed another significant treaty dealing with international trademark law. This agreement, called the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), strengthened legal protections for trademarks around the world. Most countries join still another trademark treaty known as the Madrid Protocol. That treaty makes it easier for a merchant to get trademark protection in several nations around the world with only a single application. About 60 nations had joined the Madrid Protocol by late 2004. 2.8 India’s Trademark Law Legal Requirements The legal requirements to register a trade mark under the Act are:  The selected mark should be capable of being represented graphically (i.e. paper form).  It should be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of others.  It should be used or proposed to be used mark in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services and some person have the right to use the mark with or without identity of that person. Legislation The Trademark system in India is governed by The Trade Marks Act 1999 and The Trade Mark Rules 2002. Administration The Patent Office, under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, has been established to administer the various provisions of the Patents Law relating to the grant of Patents & the Designs Law, relating to the registration of Industrial Designs. Membership of International Treaties Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Paris Convention Proposed accession to the Madrid Protocol

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Gurjeit Singh

WTO & IPR

COPYRIGHT 2.9 Introduction 2.10 History 2.11 Digital Age 2.12 India’s Copyright Law

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2.9 Introduction Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. There could be slight variations in the composition of the rights depending on the work. Copyright ensures certain minimum safeguards of the rights of authors over their creations, thereby protecting and rewarding creativity. Creativity being the keystone of progress, no civilized society can afford to ignore the basic requirement of encouraging the same. Economic and social development of a society is dependent on creativity. The protection provided by copyright to the efforts of writers, artists, designers, dramatists, musicians, architects and producers of sound recordings, cinematograph films and computer software, creates an atmosphere conducive to creativity, which induces them to create more and motivates others to create. Copyright is a branch of law granting authors the exclusive privilege to reproduce, distribute, perform, or display their creative works. The goal of copyright law is to encourage authors to invest effort in creating new works of art and literature. Copyright is one branch of the larger legal field known as intellectual property, which also includes trademark and patent law. Copyright law is the legal foundation protecting the work of many major industries, including book publishing, motion-picture production, music recording, and computer software development. These industries account for considerable economic activity in the United States, making copyright law a field of enormous economic importance. Not every work of authorship is eligible for copyright. To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be both fixed and original. The law considers a work to be fixed if it is recorded in some permanent format. Acceptable ways of fixing a work include writing it down, storing it on a computer floppy disk or compact disc (CD), recording it on videotape, or sculpting it in marble. If a poet thinks of a new poem and recites it to an audience without writing it down, copyright does not protect the poem because it is not fixed. To be original, the work must not be copied from previously existing material and must display at least a reasonable amount of creativity. For example, if an author writes the words “the sky is blue” on a piece of paper, copyright does not protect the words because they lack sufficient creativity. Consequently, short phrases and titles are usually not protected by copyright, but in some circumstances they may be protected by trademark law. Copyright only protects the words, notes, or images that the creator has used. It does not protect any ideas or concepts revealed by the work. If, for example, a scientist publishes an article explaining a new process for refining oil, the copyright prevents others from copying the words of that article. It does not, however, prevent anyone else from using the process described to refine oil. To protect the process, the scientist must obtain a patent. Similarly, if a novelist writes a book about a man obsessed about killing a whale, other people may write their own books on the same subject, as long as they do not use the exact words or a closely similar plot.

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2.10 History Before the invention of the printing press in Europe in the 15th century, copyright law did not exist. Books were expensive and difficult to produce and few people knew how to read, so there was little need for copyright protections. By the mid-1500s, however, books had become cheaper and more widely available in Europe. To reduce the risk of rivals printing politically dangerous books, the royal government of England granted a publishing monopoly to a group of book publishers, who all belonged to a guild called the Stationers’ Company. These publishers all depended on the favor of the English crown for their existence, and so they only published materials that did not offend the royal authorities. Additionally, whenever one member of the guild obtained the rights to publish a book, all other members agreed to refrain from competition. This private arrangement was an early form of copyright. It was replaced in 1710 when the British Parliament passed a law called the Statute of Anne, named for Queen Anne, who reigned over Great Britain and Ireland from 1702 to 1714. This was the first real copyright law in the modern sense. It granted authors the exclusive right to authorize the printing or reprinting of books for a limited number of years. 2.11 Copyright in Digital Age Until the 1990s, the greatest risk of infringement faced by copyright owners came from competitors. Only competitors had the resources, such as printing presses, to duplicate and distribute protected works in large numbers. When personal computers became widely available, however, the situation changed because computers stored information in the binary digits of computer code. End users of copyrighted works were suddenly able to reproduce copyrighted material digitally and to send the material instantly all over the world through the Internet. To combat unlawful copying of their works in this environment, some copyright owners began to use various protective measures. For example, some encrypted their works to make copying impossible. Others required that users enter a password to view or download a work. However, some users were able to bypass or circumvent these protective measures. Another well-known copyright controversy in the digital age has involved peer-to-peer file sharing. This is the process of exchanging files—usually music files—with other people over the Internet. File swapping can violate the copyright laws if the people sharing files are making unauthorized copies of protected works without permission and without paying. However, it proved very difficult for copyright owners to stop this behavior. In 2003 the recording industry began directly suing individuals who share copyrighted music over the Internet. The industry had some modest success in obtaining fines from college students and other individuals. Although these suits may have deterred many people from engaging in illegal file swapping, they also resulted in negative publicity for the record industry. In addition, individual suits proved inefficient, as millions of users download billions of files each month.

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In an ongoing battle to curb Internet piracy, the music and entertainment industries also pursued the commercial services that make file sharing possible. The file-sharing services often claimed that they did not know about and could not monitor the activities of their users, and thus should not be held responsible for the actions of those users. Some courts agreed with that argument. However, in 2001 several record companies succeeded in a lawsuit against the music file-sharing service called Napster. In 2005 the judgement came in the favour of entertainment and recording industries. The Court ruled that two file-sharing services, Grokster and StreamCast Networks, were liable for copyright infringement when individuals used their technology to illegally download copyrightprotected music and movies over the Internet. 2.12 India’s Copyright Law Legislation The Copyright Act, 1957 came into effect from January 1958. This Act has been amended five times since then, i.e., in 1983, 1984, 1992, 1994 and 1999, with the amendment of 1994 being the most substantial. Prior to the Act of 1957, the Law of Copyrights in the country was governed by the Copyright Act of 1914. This Act was essentially the extension of the British Copyright Act, 1911 to India. Even the Copyright Act, 1957 borrowed extensively from the new Copyright Act of the United Kingdom of 1956. The Copyright Act, 1957 continues with the common law traditions. Developments elsewhere have brought about certain degree of convergence in copyright regimes in the developed world. Membership of International Treaties The Indian Copyright Act today is compliant with most international conventions and treaties in the field of copyrights. India is a member of the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris in 1971), the Universal Copyright Convention of 1951 and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of 1995. Though India is not a member of the Rome Convention of 1961, the Copyright Act, 1957 is fully compliant with the Rome Convention provisions. Two new treaties, collectively termed as Internet Treaties, were negotiated in 1996 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). These treaties are called the ‘WIPO Copyrights Treaty (WCT)’ and the ‘WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)’. These treaties were negotiated essentially to provide for protection of the rights of copyright holders, performers and producers of phonograms in the Internet and digital era. India is not a member of these treaties; amendments are being mooted to make Act in compliant with the above treaties in order to provide protection to copyright in the digital era. Administration The Copyright Office, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education, has been established to administer the various provisions of the Copyright Law relating to the grant of Copyright. |35|