Introduction

Ideas and knowledge are an increasingly important part of trade. Most of the value of new medicines and other high technology products lies in the amount of invention, innovation, research, design and testing involved. Films, music recordings, books, computer software and on-line services are bought and sold because of the information and creativity they contain, not usually because of the plastic, metal or paper used to make them. Many products that used to be traded as low-technology goods or commodities now contain a higher proportion of invention and design in their value — for example, brand named clothing or new varieties of plants.

Creators can be given the rights to prevent others from using their inventions, designs or other creations. These rights are known as “intellectual property rights”. They take a number of forms. For example books, paintings and films come under copyright; inventions can be patented; brand names and product logos can be registered as trademarks; and so on.

   Role of the CD/WTO

The Intellectural Property Rights (IPR) group within the CD/WTO has the following responsibilities:

1. Follow-up on and participation in negotiations held under the auspices of the WTO Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, with a particular emphasis on public health, geographical indications and the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biodiversity.
2. Presentation of developments in negotiations to the Subsidiary Committee of IPR. In this case, the IPR group acts as the technical body of the Committee, reporting its recommendations to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry for approval.
3. Coordination with the Egyptian negotiators in WTO so as to convey Egypt's negotiating position on IPR issues to partners in the negotiations, and when necessary, participation in the negotiations as the capital representatives.
4. Carrying out public awareness campaigns directed at relevant stakeholders from governmental authorities, the business community and NGOs.

 

• Paper on The Ninth Meeting of The Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Access to And Sharing Benefits Resulting From Genetic Resources.

• Status of negotiations

• The African Group's proposal to amend Article 31 of TRIPS
• IPR Law No. 82
• Summary of the TRIPS Agreement
• TRIPS Agreement
• More information on TRIPS from the WTO
• Treaties/Conventions Related to Intellectual Property Rights
  • Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
  • Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
  • International Convention For The Protection Of Performers, Producers Of Phonograms And Broadcasting Organisations
  • Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits
• Notifications of Egypt and WTO members and Registration to receive notifications
• Relevant websites
• Exporters’ Guide to the Agreement (ِArabic only)
• Report a trade barrier