Page 45 - QUEST-IP (Final)_Neat

Bangladesh has been a member of organizations like World Intellectual
Property Organization (‘WIPO’) and signatory to treaties like the
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883 (‘Paris
Convention’) and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary
and Artistic 1886 (’Berne Convention’). It is also a member of one of the
most important international agreements named Trade Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights, known as ‘TRIPS’. TRIPS is an agreement
between all the member countries of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). It is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement which
has introduced IP law into multilateral trading systems. It sets out
the minimum standards of protection that are to be provided by each
Member State. The Agreement further requires that the material
obligations of the main conventions of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), meaning the Paris Convention and the Berne
Convention, including their updated versions, to be complied with. As
per the exceptions provided in the Berne Convention on moral grounds,
all principal provisions of the said conventions have been incorporated
by reference, thereby becoming obligations which the member states are
bound to follow under the TRIPS Agreement.

TRIPS covers various areas of IP including trademarks, service marks,
copyright and related rights, geographical indications and appellations
of origin, industrial designs, patents and protection of plants and trade
secrets and data. It also requires Member States to cooperate with each
other with a view to eliminating international trade in relation to goods
that infringe intellectual property rights. Article 3 (2) of the TRIPS
Agreement states that each Member shall accord to the nationals of
other Members treatment no less favorable than that it accords to its
own nationals with regard to the protection of intellectual property.
Moreover, Article 4 of TRIPS states that with regard to the protection of
intellectual property, any advantage, favor, privilege or immunity granted
by a Member to the nationals of any other country shall be accorded
immediately and unconditionally to the nationals of all other Members.

TRIPS and Other Treaties | 43