International Treaties Related to Intellectual Property Rights

Some of the important international treaties related to intellectual property rights, of which India is a member, are as follows:

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

Adopted on September 9, 1886 at Berne and entered into force on December 4, 1887. This Convention on Copyrights rests on three basic principles – national treatment, automatic protection and independence of protection; it also contains a series of provisions determining the minimum protection to be granted. It came into force in India on April 1, 1928.

Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Adopted on July 14, 1967 at Stockholm and entered into force on April 26, 1970. WIPO was established under this Convention with two main objectives - to promote the protection of intellectual property worldwide and to ensure administrative cooperation among the intellectual property Unions established by the treaties that WIPO administers. India became a member on May 1, 1975.

Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO)

Adopted on April 15, 1994 at Marrakesh and entered into force on January 1, 1995. WTO was established to provide the common institutional framework for the conduct of trade relations among its Members in matters related to the agreements and associated legal instruments. India became a member to this agreement on January 1, 1995.

World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement)

Adopted on April 15, 1994 at Marrakesh and entered into force on January 1, 1995. The TRIPS agreement covers various types of intellectual property and provides guidelines for minimum standards for protection, procedures and remedies for enforcement of IPR rights and for issues related to dispute settlement. India became a member on January 1, 1995.

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

Adopted on March 20, 1883 at Paris and entered into force on July 7, 1884. It provides basic guidelines for the protection of industrial property (patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or appellations of origin, and the repression of unfair competition) and has substantive provisions for national treatment, right of priority and common rules. This treaty came into force in India from December 7, 1998.

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

Adopted on June 19, 1970 at Washington D.C. and entered into force on January 24, 1978. It facilitates patent protection for an invention simultaneously in a large number of countries; it came into force in India from December 7, 1998

Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

Adopted on April 28, 1977 at Budapest and entered into force on August 19, 1980. It provides guidelines for the deposition of micro-organisms with any "international depositary authority" for the purpose of patent procedures. This treaty came into force in India from December 17, 2001.

Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks:

Adopted on June 27, 1989 at Madrid and entered into force on December 1, 1995. The Madrid Agreement facilitates the registration of trademarks outside India; it came into force in India from July 8, 2013.