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What international treaties or establishments have been created to protect inventors?
Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
On December 8, 1994, President Clinton signed the "Uruguay Round Agreements Act" (URAA). The URAA implements the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which includes an agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property. This sets out the minimum standards of protection for intellectual property to be provided by each party to the agreement. Each of the main elements of protection is defined, namely, the subject matter to be protected, the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions, and the minimum duration of protection. The agreement requires that members comply with the main conventions of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency that promotes the protection of intellectual property.
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act also set a term for all patents in force or filed as of June 8, 1995, of 17 years from the date the patent was granted, or 20 years from the date of the first filing of the patent application, whichever is longer. All patents filed after June 8, 1995, will have a patent expiration date of 20 years from the date of first filing of the patent application.
The Trilateral Offices
In addition to the GATT agreement, the United States, Europe and Japan are working to harmonize their patent systems through the establishment of the Trilateral Offices. The Trilateral Offices-the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)-have since 1983 been cooperating on the administration of their patent functions.
One of the activities of the Trilateral Offices is to exchange information and views regarding patent administration in general, patent documentation and classification, automation programs and patent examination practices. Advantages of this institutional cooperation include reduced costs, better patent quality, reduced processing time and improved information dissemination.
For the past 15 years, a Trilateral Conference has been held annually, and the results have been contributing to mutual agreements and developments in the field of patent systems.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a specialized U.N. agency that promotes the protection of man-made creations for the economic, social and intellectual advancement of all people. WIPO aims to help disseminate intellectual property information between nations, harmonize the systems by which these nations review and protect property rights, and assist in resolving related international disputes. Centrally located in Geneva, the WIPO is supported by 179 member states and currently oversees 23 treaties that protect intellectual property.
WIPO plays a vital role in the harmonization of intellectual property laws internationally by maintaining the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT.) The patent system this treaty established allows an inventor of one member state to file a single patent application for any or all nations that have adopted the PCT as long as the application fulfills the requirements outlined in the treaty. Currently, more than 110 nations are members of the PCT Union. This multinational agreement streamlines the process by which an inventor gains the property rights that protect an invention globally.
The history of WIPO dates back to the Paris (1883) and Berne conventions (1886) when separate International Bureaus were established to administer their respective treaties. The Paris Convention sought to protect patents, trademarks and industrial designs, while the Berne Convention was adopted for the protection of artistic endeavors (visual arts, literary works, music, etc.). The two international secretariats that emerged from these conventions were combined in 1893 to create BIRPI, the precursor to WIPO (BIRPI is an acronym for the French translation of "United International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property").
In 1960 BIRPI moved from Berne to Geneva to be closer to the United Nations and was replaced seven years later by the WIPO. At that point, all multilateral treaties were reformed so that oversight was transferred from the Swiss government to the WIPO's member states. During this time, the organization underwent administrative and structural changes, and on December 17, 1974, the WIPO became a specialized U.N. agency. As such, the WIPO is now an independent member of the United Nations that retains its own governing body, budget, constitution and staff, with an obligation to act upon the intellectual property concerns of the U.N.'s member states.
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