TRIPS

TRIPS full form is trade related aspects of intellectual property rights. All the member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed to have an international legal framework for transferring goods and services. The trade related intellectual property rights will cover all the intellectual property like industrial designs, copyright, patents, geographical indications,  trade secrets, trademarks, and exclusionary rights over new plant varieties. The trade related aspects of intellectual property rights came into force effectively from 01st January 1995. This entire article is about what is a TRIPS agreement? How it is utilised?, the importance of TRIPS in IPR and many other details are given in detail here.   

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TRIPS Full Form

TRIPS stands for the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. These TRIPS are given to the individual person or agencies for their unique innovations or creativity. The TRIPS gives all the rights for the creator or innovators to make his/her creation for a certain period of time. The creators can also renew their innovations by producing all the necessary documents.  Intellectual property in India is well established among the levels- statutory, administrative and judicial. Innovators can unite these TRIPS to create their own brand and to earn cash through it. 

The TRIPS full form  Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights came into effect from 01st January 1995. They are mainly introduced to provide minimum standard protections and enforcement of intellectual property rights in member countries. Even the WTO is taking all the necessary measures to effectively promote and to make adequate protection on intellectual property rights during the international trades. The TRIPS agreement is administered by the TRIPS Council. 

All the member countries of the world trade organisation are taking necessary steps and legal measures for maintaining minimum standards and protections on the TRIPS agreement. 

Norms And Standards Of IPR 

The list of agreements that are provided for maintaining norms and standards in the particular areas of intellectual property is given below. 

1. Patents

2. Trade Marks

3. Copyrights

4. Geographical Indications

5. Industrial Designs

Patents 

Usually, the patents are provided to the inventions. Patents can be provided to all the branches of technology. These are given to all the new products. Individual or an organisation can own the patent of the product. No other individual or organisation has the right to create or sell the same concept as it. To receive this patent, they need to undergo three testing methods. 

In addition, the TRIPS agreement will provide all the general security exemptions to the product. The TRIPS will provide patent protection if the innovation is supporting the health of animals, humans, plants and if it does not have any serious prejudice to the environment. After all the test process the research experts in TRIPS will allow innovators to make use of it for commercial exploitation. 

According to the TRIPS agreement, the minimum term of protection for a patent is about 20 years from the date of filing. The government of India also agreed to implement these TRIPS agreements under article 70.8 and article 70.9. 

List of Acts Related To Patents 

1. The Patents Act, 1970

2. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999

3. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002

4. The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005

List of Rules Related To Patents In India 

1. The Patents Rules 2003

2. The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2005

3. The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2006

Trade Marks

Trade Marks are defined as the sign on the goods or services to identify the quality of the product. The best examples of trademarks are hallmarks, ISI, 916 and many more.  The trademark may have a single sign or a combination of signs. The trademarks for the product are also protected under the TRIPS agreement. The TRIPS agreement requires initial registration and periodical renewal. This will help the government to maintain the standard of the product. The trademarks should be renewed within 7 years from the date of registration. The licensing for trademarks of the product is not compulsory in India. 

List of Acts Related to Trade Marks

1. Trade Marks Acts

2. Trade Marks Act, 1999

3. New Elements in the Trade Marks Act, 1999

Copyrights

Copyrights in India are coming into force by the Indian Copyright Act, 1957. This was amended by the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999 in India, fully reflects the Berne Convention on Copyrights. This is also copied from the Geneva Convention for the Protection of Rights of Producers of Phonograms and to the Universal Copyright Convention. India is also an active member of the WIPO and UNESCO. The  World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) is headquartered in Geneva. 

As the requirements are changing periodically, the copyright law is also kept on changing periodically.  The copyright law established in May 1995 is currently active in India.  The copyrights are also coming under the TRIPS agreement. That is especially given to the developments in satellite broadcasting, computer software and digital technology.  This law was first taken from the Rome convention. 

To enforce the copyrights, people are maintaining several methods for strengthening and streamlining. With the advice of TRIPS, they are also setting up many Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council training programs for enforcement officers. 

Examples of copyrights are music, albums, movies, software, etc. 

List of Acts Related to Copyrights

1. The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012

2. Copyright, Act 1957

3. Copyright Rules, 1958

4. Copyright Handbook

5. International Copyright Order, 1999

6. Copyright Piracy in India

7. Amendments in the Act

Geographical Indications

Geographical indications are mainly provided for producing particular products for the people in particular areas. This geographical indication will prevent people from other geographical locations from commercialising their products. This will help to preserve the life standard of the traditional workers and also protects the true place of origin. The TRIPS also misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the good.

To protect the geographical indication, the new law was created in the name of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and the Protection) Act, 1999. This was passed in the parliament on 30th December 1999. The Geographical Indications came into force on 08th March 2002. Currently, India has 344 Geographical Indications.  The best examples of the GI Tags are Laddu of Tirupati, Turmeric of Erode, Tea for Darjeeling, Mysore for sandalwood oils and many more. 

Industrial Designs

Industrial design is one of the trademarks, which is given to the creative activities of the factories, especially for the ornaments and formal appearance of a product. Under the TRIPS agreement,  Industrial designs will get the minimum standard protections. This will help an organisation to make their own brand in the world market. Many developing countries like India have a minimum standard for maintaining Industrial designs.  The best example of the IPR industrial designs are Ford’s engine, Ola electric bike model. 

Industrial design plays an important role in evolving technology. This will help to create its own brand through each innovation in a particular field. In India, Industrial design was published as the New Designs Act, 2000. This helped Indians to compete with the rapid changes in technology and the international market.

While having a glance around the world, India has achieved a  mature status in the field of industrial designs; this also gave huge returns to India from the global market. 

This article provided all the information about the TRIPS. Maintaining standards, enforcement, and dispute settlement are the important TRIPS agreement notes. Here you can find the list of trade related aspects of intellectual property rights agreements applicable for various products in detail.