For our studentsINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

LawpreneurzINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

1. Introduction

Industrial revolution in 19th century gave impetus to invention.Similarly, creative genius of scientists, artists and literary writers resulted into need for legal protection of intellectual creativity. The need for comprehensive international agreements governing intellectual property was fervently realized. The first multilateral effort was made through Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property held on 20th March, 1883 in Paris. It was followed by Berne Convention for Protection of Literacy and Artistic Works in 1886 in Berne, Switzerland. Together, these two initial international efforts can be termed as the Magna Carta of IPRs. Since then IPR regime has made a long journey and with the establishment of WIPO and TRIPs the IPR jurisprudence has been firmly established at international as well as national level.

2. International Regime

Paris Convention, concluded on 20th March, 1883, is the first and the oldest international convention. It is a pioneering international agreement. There are 30 articles in the convention dealing with various aspects of industrial property like patents, design, trademark, false indication, utility models and their protection. The convention has set up an institutional framework by providing, administrative organ like Union, the Assembly, the Executive Committee and the International Bureau. There are more than 140 members and all members constitute the Union for protection of industrial property.

Some other major International conventions and Treaties are listed hereunder;

  1. International Convention for Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1968 (subsequently revised in 1991)
  2. Patent Co-operation Treaty 1970 (PCT)
  3. Budapest Treaty on International Recognition of Deposit of Micro-organism for purposes of Patent of Patent Procedure, 1980
  4. Madrid Agreement
    1. Trademark Law Treaty for Harmonization of Trademark Registration System concluded in Geneva 1994.
    2. Berne Convention for Protection of Literacy and Artistic Works, 1886.
  5. Universal Copyright Convention, 1952 (UCC)
  6. Rome Convention, 1961
  7. WIPO Copyright Treaty, 1996 (concluded at Geneva on 20th December, 1996)
  8. WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty, 1996 (WPPT).
  9. Madrid Agreement on Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods, 1967.
  10. Hague Agreement concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Design, 1925 (Revised at Hague in 1960).
  11. Convention on Bio-Diversity, 1992-CBC
  12. WTO – TRIPS, 1995.

3. National Regime

As founding member of WTO and mutatis mutandis of agreements attaches to WTO, especially TRIPs. India has taken timely steps in amending and enacting various statutes relating to patent, copyright, trademark, geographical indications, plant varieties and farmers’ rights and biodiversity.

Listed hereunder are major laws on IPR as enacted in India from time to time.

  1. The Copyright Act, 1957 (Amended in 1994, 1999, 2012).
  2. The Patents Act, 1970 (Amended in 1999, 2002 and 2005).
  3. The Trademarks Act, 1999. (The Trademarks and Merchandise Act, 1958 stood repealed).
  4. The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
  5. The Designs Act, 2000.
  6. The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Designs Act, 2000.
  7. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001.
  8. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

4. IPR Policy of India

India has for the first time adopted a comprehensive IPR Policy to foster innovation, cutting delays is clearing patent, trademark and copyright applications, protection of traditional knowledge and encouraging entrepreneurship. The National Intellectual Property Rights Policy approved on 14th May 2016, will bring Indian IP Regime in line with global standards and help improve its ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business.

The IPR policy has tried to incorporate global best practices in the Indian Context. It is expected to future road map for intellectual property in India, besides putting in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review.

LawpreneurzDetails of lecture

Category Sr No. Topics
General Lecture 1 Introduction and Basics of IPR
  Lecture 2 International and National Regime of IPR
  Lecture 3 WIPO & WTO-TRIPS
Copyright Lecture 4 Copyright-Basics Concepts Introduction,Meaning,Scope & Nature
  Lecture 5 Authorship Claim and Registration
  Lecture 6 Publication and Term of Copyright
  Lecture 7 Assignment and License of copyright
  Lecture 8 Infringement of Copyright- Part 1
  Lecture 9 Remedies against Infringement
  Lecture 10 Special Rights of Broad casting Organizations and Performers' Rights
Trademark Lecture 11 Meaning, Nature and Scope of Trademark
  Lecture 12 Registration of Trademark
  Lecture 13 Rights if Trademark Holder and Assignment of Trademark
  Lecture 14 Infringement of Trademark and Passing off
Patent Lecture 15 Objects and Basic Principles
  Lecture 16 Patentable and Non-patentable Inventions
  Lecture 17 Procedure for Obtaining Patent
  Lecture 18 Rights and Obligations of Patent Holder
  Lecture 19 Infringement Of Patent and Remedies Thereof
  Lecture 20 Patent Authorities and Patent Agents
  Lecture 21 Emerging Issues Relating to Patent
Other IP’s Lecture 22 Introduction, Registration and Infringemnt
  Lecture 23 Geographical Indications (GI)
  Lecture 24 New Plant Varieties and Bio-Diversity
  Lecture 25 Traditional Knowledge-TK & Traditional Secrets-TS

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