Intellectual property is a broad area of law that covers copyrights and other related areas such as patents, image rights, and design rights, and much more over a decade ago TRIPS agreement introduced the minimum standards of intellectual property protection globally. The implementation of these obligations wide enough with every nation implementing the laws in their different ways.

The European Union, the United States of America, and Japan made efforts to harmonize international property laws. To follow through with this agenda they announced that intellectual property is one of the top agendas of the G8 and that they will create an anti-counterfeit treaty that operates differently from the WIPO. This prioritization is an indication of how important the issue is in the global market.

What is Intellectual Property and Its International Recognition?

Intellectual property is a mind creation that transforms into digital and physical assets. As soon as the inventions are up the inventor will get a legal right from the government known as intellectual property rights (IPR). These rights aim to fuel innovation and creativity. After the expiry of these rights then other innovators can build on them and advance them further even without the owner’s consent. Such rights include; patent, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Countries have put policies in place to protect these rights. For example in the U.S, Congress plays an oversight role in addressing both intellectual property rights and trade policies. This is one area of law that is internationally visible, hence the major role it plays in international business. The Paris convention on the protection of industrial property was the first international instrument to incorporate patents and innovations.

Furthermore, the Berne convention for artistic works protection was held after the Paris convention. It’s aims were to cover copyrights. After covering copyrights and patents, there was also a need to develop other rules that cover trademarks. This was done at the Madrid Agreement on international registration of marks. These three conventions and agreements dealt with the three major types of intellectual property internationally.

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