Other international instruments. As discussed throughout in the text, TRIPS draws substantially on the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits of 1989, the Washington Treaty. 1007 In practice, ten years was the standard term set out by the SCPA and adopted by the regulations enacted in other developed countries at the time of the negotiation of the Washington Treaty. 518 Integrated circuits
Other international instruments. 5.2.1 The WIPO-administered conventions The state – state dispute settlement system provided by the WIPO-administered intellectual property protection treaties has in the past proved less efficient than the DSU.141 There is a WIPO Draft Treaty on the Settlement of Disputes between States in the Field of Intellectual Property.142 The utility of such treaty is rather controversial. Some states have insisted that, after the entry into force of TRIPS, there would be no further need to pursue the creation of a WIPO dispute settlement system.143 On the other hand, it may be argued that the establishment of such system in parallel to the WTO DSU would bring certain, particularly political, advantages.144
Other international instruments. In the field of competition rules relating to restrictive business practices, the de- velopment of international instruments is marked by hesitancy.78 There seem to be no other binding international79 instruments directly dealing with competi- tion rules that specifically apply to IPR-related restrictive practices. The Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restric- tive Business Practices, which concerns anticompetitive conduct in general, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980 as a non-binding reso- lution only.80 It has the character of a recommendation addressed to Members, and, as such, may have guided the design of competition rules, which so many countries have adopted in recent years.81 Some instruments, such as the Paris Convention for the International Protec- tion of Industrial Property,82 refer indirectly to the existence of abusive practices by dealing with the grant of compulsory licences. The most ambitious effort to establish international rules of competition on IPR-related business practices was 77 See Section 1 of the “Reference Paper” accepted by Members as “additional commitments” when signing the “Fourth Protocol to the General Agreement on Services” of February 15, 1997 (reprinted from 36 Int’l Leg. Mat. 354, 367 (1997):
Other international instruments. Other multilateral instruments contain provisions offering an opportunity to negotiate commitments for home country measures beneficial to developing countries.70
Other international instruments. This Agreement shall be without prejudice to existing obligations and rights of both Parties deriving from other international instruments.
Other international instruments. As indicated above (Section 2.1), provisions on review and amendment are not particular to TRIPS, but also exist, inter alia, under the Paris and Berne Conven- tions. Since these Conventions have to be respected by all WTO Members (see Articles 2.1 and 9.1), any amendments to their texts are automatically binding, even for those Members not parties to the respective Convention. This does not apply vice versa, in that TRIPS amendments will not be binding on countries that are Paris/Berne Convention parties, but not WTO Members.
Other international instruments. In December 1996 two new treaties with respect to intellectual property rights were adopted at WIPO: the Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT).247 These two treaties include provisions with respect 246 See Section 6.2 (International instruments) of both Chapters; see also X. Xxxxxx, The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health: Lighting A Dark Corner at the WTO, in: Journal of International Economic Law (2002), 469–505. 247 World Intellectual Property Organization: Copyright Treaty [adopted in Geneva, Dec. 20, 1996], 36 I.L.M. 65 (1997) and World Intellectual Property Organization: Performances and Phonograms Treaty [adopted in Geneva, Dec. 20, 1996], 36 I.L.M. 76 (1997). 110 Exhaustion of rights to the exhaustion of rights that, like Article 6,248 reflect lack of agreement among governments on a unified approach to exhaustion of rights issues.249 Several of the “agreed statements” to each of the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WPPT address issues related to the issue of exhaustion, for example, by attempting to clarify distinctions between rights to redistribute physical copies of protected works and digital copies of such works.250 The WCT and WPPT are not incorporated in TRIPS, and their rules (including agreed statements) are not subject to WTO dispute settlement. At present, there are a limited number of state parties to these agreements. However, it is possible that in the future these agreements will have sufficiently wide adherence among WTO Members that a dispute settlement panel or the AB might look to them as evidence of state practice in interpreting related copyright provisions of TRIPS.
Other international instruments. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties prescribes rules regarding reserva- tions at Articles 19–23.
Other international instruments. The incorporation of the Berne Convention into TRIPS means that the negoti- ating context of the Berne Convention is an important interpretive resource for WTO Members. The initial TRIPS copyright dispute already demonstrates the significant reliance dispute panels will place on Berne history when interpreting TRIPS.57 Further, the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) tracks the language of TRIPS Article 9.2 and excludes “ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathemati- cal concepts as such” from protection.58 Accordingly, the interpretation of TRIPS Article 9.2 will undoubtedly inform the interpretation of the WCT.
Other international instruments. The objectives and principles set forth in Articles 7 and 8 are supported by a myriad of other international instruments that promote economic development, transfer of technology, social welfare (including nutritional and health needs), and so forth. Human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, support a number of the same objectives and principles as Articles 7 and 8. The various agreements of the International Labour Organization, and the charter of the World Health Organization, sup- port the development-oriented objectives and principles of TRIPS. In the imple- mentation of TRIPS and in any dispute settlement proceedings it will be useful to establish the supportive links between the objectives and principles stated in Articles 7 and 8, and the objectives and principles of other international instru- ments. The Appellate Body, as noted in Chapter 1 (Section 4 on the ”Shrimp- Turtles” case), has moved firmly away from the notion of the WTO as a “self- contained” legal regime, and the establishment of support in other international instruments may help persuade the AB to recognize and give effect to develop- mental priorities.
