The first successful attempt to establish international rights to intellectual property was the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which was first adopted in 1886 and was modified several times. The Convention is presently administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Although U.S. copyright law was significantly different from that established by the Berne Convention, resulting in the United States' refusal to accept the Convention for several years, the United States changed its copyright laws significantly in the 1970s and subsequently signed the Convention. A major criticism of the Berne Convention was its lack of enforcement mechanisms.
In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded as a result of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations pertaining to the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade, commonly known as "GATT." Also adopted in the Uruguay Round was the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). In contrast to the Berne Convention, which was limited to copyright of literary and artistic works, TRIPS was a sweeping attempt to establish global intellectual property law pertaining to every type of intellectual property, including copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, geographical indicia and integrated circuit layouts. TRIPS was formed in response to the fact that intellectual property law and its enforcement varied greatly from country to country and sought to provide more systematization and predictability in resolving disputes.
TRIPS requires WTO members to provide strong intellectual property rights in their policies, laws and regulations. With regard to copyrights, TRIPs incorporated most of the requirements of the Berne Convention. Among the most significant aspects of TRIPS' copyright requirements are that foreign copyright holders must be granted the same rights by a member nation that that nation's citizens enjoy, no formality may be required to establish a copyright, and exceptions to the exclusive rights granted to copyright holders, such as "fair use" in the United States, must be strictly limited. In addition, TRIPS requires that computer programs be treated as literary works, thus, subjecting them to copyright laws and rules. As with copyrights, TRIPS in general requires that any limitations placed on the exclusive rights granted to intellectual property rights holders be kept to a minimum and imposed only under narrow circumstances.
TRIPS was the first international agreement on intellectual property to be endowed with strong enforcement mechanisms. Disputes as to whether a country is following WTO rules are handled by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), which is made up of representatives from all member nations. The DSB establishes panels to hear disputes and report to the DSB, which will either accept or reject the panel's findings. The WTO establishes timetables for each aspect of the dispute process, including appellate review, and strives to accomplish timely resolution of disputes. If a complaint against a member country is upheld, the WTO will direct the country to amend its laws, policies or regulations to conform with TRIPS' requirements. If a WTO member fails to comply with WTO directions, the WTO may order trade sanctions against the noncomplying country.
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