Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Developing Countries

Abstract

The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual property rights protection (TRIPS) Agreement, signed in 1994 as a founding element of the WTO, represents the most important attempt to establish a global harmonization of Intellectual Property protection. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the international aspects of IPRs, with particular reference to the effects of the TRIPS Agreement, which has been described as "the most significant international undertaking on IPR in history". This paper is mainly descriptive in character. It only attempts to give some aspects of TRIPS and effects in developing countries and which are some of the conventions that protect intellectual property (IP) in the trade system. TRIPS Agreement has three main components, which relate to standards of protection, enforcement and dispute settlement. It does not establish a universal IPR system, instead, it lays down a set of minimum standards for the legal protection of IP that WTO members are expected to comply with. Is TRIPS pro trade? Who will benefit and who will lose from its implementation? These are questions that arise from scholars of developed and developing countries. Finally some conclusions from developing countries perspective derive from the analysis.