International intellectual property law is a patchwork area of intersecting multilateral and bilateral agreements and their resulting harmonization of national laws. It has become an increasingly important and frequently litigated area, particularly in the patent, copyright, and trademark arenas. In addition, in the past few decades, there have been louder calls for the protection of domain names, databases, software, and traditional knowledge. Many of these cutting edge intellectual property issues are addressed on an international level through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Along with new forms of protection, the trend towards globalization in the trade arena has had a direct effect on the harmonization of national intellectual property laws through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and regional trade organizations. With increased interest in international intellectual property law, there are now numerous high quality electronic resources that cover various facets of this ever- changing area.
II. Overview
Intellectual Property is a frequently used term without a particularly concrete definition. For the purposes of this guide, it will be defined as products of the mind. Such products could be the trade name “McDonalds”, a treatise on economics, a database of soup recipes, an invention to sort DNA strands, or the design of a restaurant. Intellectual property law concerns itself with the protection of these products. The most common forms of protection are patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret law. Other areas of intellectual property law include rights of publicity, moral rights, misappropriation, unfair competition, geographic indications of origin, database protection, licensing, trade dress, plant variety protection, integrated circuit protection, and paracopyright (including laws that prohibit circumventing anti-piracy technology).
One important note is that often physical property contains, within it, intellectual property. A machine might be based on a patented idea or a book might have copyrighted text. As such, intellectual property laws often define both what can and cannot be done with the intellectual property itself and what one can do with a copy of that property that you lawfully possess.
In doing international intellectual property research, one will often see terms such as “neighboring rights” (sound recording performances and other works seen as needing less protection than copyright in civil law countries) and “industrial property” (patents and trademarks as distinguished from copyrights, neighboring rights, and other methods of protecting artistic works). For the purposes of this guide, these terms are all subsumed under the term intellectual property.
The most important international agreements in intellectual property law are listed here. Many of them are available in multiple formats, including Microsoft Word, PDF, and HTML. In addition, the links below link to the main pages for those treaties, rather than the HTML texts so that the reader can also find related protocols, notifications and signatories.
The focus of this Chapter is international law. Although it includes references to national domestic law (foreign law) and comparative law sources, other sites comprehensively cover national domestic law, such as WIPO’s Collection of Laws for Electronic Access (CLEA) (http://www.wipo.int/clea/en/index.jsp) or UNESCO’s Collection of National Copyright Laws (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/). For additional web sites that compile national intellectual property laws and decisions, see the relevant section below.
Patent and trademark searches themselves are outside the scope of this legally-oriented guide, but for links to patent, trademark, and other filing databases, a good starting point is the National University of Singapore’s A Select Guide to Patent and Trademark Information (http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/bib/patents/patent_www.html) or WIPO’s Intellectual Property Digital Library (http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/index.jsp). For Patent Cooperation Treaty data, statistics, and filings, see PatentScope (http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/) with e-mail updates here (http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/updates.html). For European patent searching, start with espacenet (http://www.espacenet.com/). For descriptions of International Trademark Classifications see the section in WIPO below or this web site (http://www.naming.com/icclasses.html). For a global directory of copyright and industrial property offices, here is the Directory of Intellectual Property Offices (http://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp). Here is another great starting point (http://www.ip-links.de/) for national patent and trademark offices.
III. General Search Strategies
For the purposes of this guide, there are two goals of research. The first goal is to find a specific document or set of documents. The other seeks background information on a topic. The former goal is better suited to electronic research and techniques if the source is comparatively recent. Many of the links below link to multilateral agreements, preparatory documents, and in some cases, national laws and cases. Most major treaties and agreements are online and freely accessible. If you are seeking a pre-1990 document other than a major agreement, a good place to start is with a print source that gives a citation to where the document appears in print. Footnotes in academic journal articles can be of particular use in finding such citations. For more recent documents, or more important older documents, using a search engine such as Google (http://www.google.com) might help find the document. When using Google or any other search engine, it is important to check the source of the document. The first step is to note the final three letters in the main address, such as whether the domain you are at ends with ".com", ".org", or ".edu". In many cases ".int", ".gov", ".org", and ".edu" are considered more reliable domains than ".com" domains, in part because they are not commercial ventures. In addition, do not rely on the text of a document found on the Internet in a legal proceeding unless it was from a particularly trusted source. It is possible the document was poorly scanned, the text was not compared to the original source, the version posted was an outdated draft, or that document has numerous other flaws.
When seeking background information on a topic, it is often best to start with print sources. If you have a local library, some time checking their catalog and reading the book or articles they have can get you the answer faster than searching the Internet. One useful research strategy is to set a fixed time for Internet research. If you have not found the answer in that period, try a local library or bookstore. Often hours can be spent on the Internet fruitlessly searching for something that is not there.
When looking for books, one way to narrow your search is to use subject headings. If you are interested in recent international trademark law, limiting the subject to including the word TRADEMARK will help quickly narrow your search. As different countries often use different terms for specific legal constructs, such as trademark, if you are seeking books in a non-US database, it would make sense to first determine the likely subject headings for the books you are seeking in the local language and legal terminology.
When looking for periodical articles, there are several ways to start your search. Although searching with Google (http://www.google.com) or another search engine is one way to find articles, often a better way is to use a commercial periodical index. The benefit of both the print and online indexes is that an editor has described what topics the article covers. When using an online index, the first step is to determine what terms best define the topic and then use those index terms as part of the search. Since most legal periodical articles are indexed in general indexes, the same databases can be used for research on a variety of topics. One starting point for finding legal periodical articles using indexes is the ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: International Environmental Law Chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/env1.htm).
Once one relevant book, article, or bibliography (print or electronic) is found, the footnotes therein will likely lead to additional useful materials. If you are using the Internet to find relevant articles or books on a narrow topic and you do not have access to a commercial legal periodical index, another way to approach the same challenge is to go to a search engine and enter your search terms along with the word “bibliography” or “resources.”
Vicenç Feliú, International Trademark Law - The Madrid System (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/International_Trademark_Law.htm) provides a brief look at the practical aspects of the Madrid Protocol and includes a selective bibliography.
International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development ICTSD) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), IPRsonline.org, General Resources on IPRs (http://www.iprsonline.org/resources/iprs.htm) includes online reports, articles, and web sites from 1989. It also subject indexing to limit searches to narrower topics, including traditional knowledge, biodiversity, and human rights.
Andrew Larrick, International Intellectual Property (http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides/internat_law/intl_ip) includes a discussion of the nexus of foreign and international intellectual property law and offers bibliographic resources and additional information for citing the major intellectual property treaties.
Peace Palace Library, WTO Bibliography, Intellectual Property (http://www.ppl.nl/bibliographies/all/showresults.php?bibliography=wto&code=WTI0&topic=Intellectual%20property) includes bibliographies of books, articles, and documents related to intellectual property, world trade, the TRIPS Agreement, regional, and national issues. Older yet valuable intellectual property bibliographies from the same source are available here (http://www.ppl.nl/hugo/WTObibliographycontentsnew.htm#Intelprop).
The major sources of international intellectual property law are treaties and other international agreements. As with many other legal areas, intellectual property is touched on by agreements on patents, trademarks, copyright, trade, antitrust, licensing practices, civil procedure, and other areas. In addition to treaties, other sources of international law that touch on intellectual property include customary law, general principles of law, judicial decisions, and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations (Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice (http://www.icj-cij.org/documents/).
a. Internet Sources
1. The United Nations (UN)
The United Nations is a huge family of interlocking international organizations with frequent overlaps within areas of substantive law, such as intellectual property. Several organizations within the United Nations work in areas that directly affect international treatment of intellectual property. The primary three organizations are the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UN Educational, Scientific, & Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Additional UN Specialized Agencies that have an interest in intellectual property laws include the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Many of these agencies have an extensive presence on the Internet, including the texts of treaties, working papers, and related documents. For a gateway to all the UN organizations, the best place to start is the Official Web Site Locator for the United Nations System of Organizations (http://www.unsystem.org/). The relevant UN entities listed below are organized with the most IP content-rich sites first and more basic links for the more tangentially-related sites later. For a deeper discussion of United Nations electronic resources in general, see the ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: United Nations Chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/un1.htm).
A. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Within the United Nations, the most relevant organization is almost certainly the World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en), an organization that has existed under various names for over 100 years, but only became part of the UN as a specialized agency in 1974. It was established by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/convention/index.html). The member states of WIPO are listed at the WIPO web site (http://www.wipo.int/members/en/). Their web site has a wealth of information, including numerous intellectual property treaty texts (http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/) such as the WTO-WIPO Cooperation Agreement (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/wtowip_e.htm) and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/index.htm). For practical content on fees, forms and statistics related to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, there is a dedicated part of the WIPO web site (http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/).
Patent and trademark classifications are discussed at http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en/, notably the International Patent Classification, 7th (http://www.wipo.int/classifications/fulltext/new_ipc/) and the International Classification for Industrial Designs under the Locarno Agreement(http://www.wipo.int/classifications/nivilo/locarno/index.htm). For a concordance between International Patent Classification and United States Patent Classification, see the United States Patent and Trademark Office's concordance (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/). The same site (http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/) also includes conversion between the United States industrial design protection classification and the Locarno classification scheme (http://www.wipo.int/classifications/nivilo/locarno/index.htm).
WIPO has also established an Arbitration and Mediation Center (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/index.html). The web site includes WIPO Arbitration Rules (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/arbitration/rules/index.html) and WIPO Mediation Rules (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules/index.html). This site also includes lists of arbitrators and mediators, recommended contract clauses, and in the case of arbitration, distinct WIPO Expedited Rules (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/arbitration/expedited-rules/index.html). For those with cases before WIPO, they have the WIPO Electronic Case Facility (ECAF) (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/ecaf/introduction.jsp).
The WIPO web site is also an excellent source of information and position papers on traditional knowledge (http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/index.html) and on Internet domain name issues (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/index.html). WIPO is one of a few Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) service providers. The WIPO decisions are posted on their web site (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions.html). Commercial sources for WIPO decisions include LEXIS: trdmrk;wipodd (2000-) and WESTLAW: udrp-arb (2000-). There are other UDRP service providers, and they are all administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (http://www.icann.org/) also more fully discussed below.
Finally, although largely beyond the scope of this article, the WIPO web site has the vast Intellectual Property Digital Library (IPDL) (http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/index.jsp), which includes a searchable database of works submitted under various WIPO treaties including PCT (Patents), Madrid (Trademarks), Hague (Industrial Designs), Article 6ter (State Emblems, Official Hallmarks, and Emblems of Intergovernmental Organizations). The contents of the IPDL are spelled out on this excellent scope page (http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/resources/content.jsp)
B. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Unlike WIPO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (http://www.unesco.org/) was a specialized agency of the UN from the UN’s inception in 1945. UNESCO has an extremely broad scope, from rebuilding classrooms in devastated countries to preserving cultural sites around the world. At the same time, since the protection of culture is within UNESCO’s scope, it touches on museums, arts, world heritage, and copyright. Copyright issues within UNESCO are dealt with in the Culture Sector’s Division of Arts and Cultural Enterprise. UNESCO’s involvement in copyright goes back to the 1952 Universal Copyright Convention (http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/copyright/html_eng/page1.shtml).
More recently, UNESCO’s focus has been on digital technologies and preventing piracy, particularly through education and public awareness campaigns. UNESCO’s web site includes a wide array of legal instruments (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/). Of particular interest to IP researchers, beyond the legal instruments is the UNESCO e-Copyright Bulletin, offered in five languages, (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/) and the splendid Collection of National Copyright Laws (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/).
In addition, UNESCO has a publishing arm and has started publishing e-books, the first of which is Copyright-Engine of Development by Ralph Oman (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/). Additional UNESCO publications on copyright and neighboring rights are available here (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/).
C.United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Established in 1964, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (http://www.unctad.org) has the goal of integrating the developed and less developed countries of the world into the global economy. As such, it has a very useful intellectual property portal on intellectual property rights and sustainable development called IPRsonline (http://www.iprsonline.org/). This site includes links to guides on various IP rights, IP proposals submitted to the WTO, discussion papers, and links to texts of regional free trade agreements. Some of the materials appear to come from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) (http://www.ictsd.org), an independent non-governmental organization.
D. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
F. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (http://www.cbd.int/default.shtml) was formed under the auspices of the United Nations in 1992 as part of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (http://www.cbd.int/convention/convention.shtml). The web site touches on intellectual property in the contexts of access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and genetic use restriction technologies. The primary content of the web site is Decisions of the Conference of the Parties (http://www.cbd.int/decisions/default.aspx) and official documents (http://www.cbd.int/doc/default.aspx).
G. International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) (http://www.itu.int/net/home/index.aspx) is almost 140 years old and became a UN specialized agency in 1947. It deals with technological and policy issues related to global telecommunications networks and services, including radio, television, cellular, broadband, and other spectrum issues. While it is not as directly related to intellectual property as some of the organizations discussed above, the web site does include a fair amount of technical information and such expertise is useful in supplementing the legal pronouncements of the WIPO and others.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) (http://www.wto.org/) is an autonomous intergovernmental body under the aegis of the UN. Its goal is the creation of rules of trade between nations and groups of nations (such as the European Union). The WTO was founded in 1995 as part of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/legal_e.htm). The 1995 Marrakesh Agreement was negotiated during the Uruguay Round which took place between 1986 and 1994. The WTO currently has 146 member nations and regional organizations. It serves numerous functions including administering the Uruguay Round trade agreements, facilitating trade dispute resolution, and surveying member nation trade policies.
Although the WTO’s scope is far broader than just intellectual property, a substantial portion of its work involves the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf), an Annex to the Marrakesh Agreement. The TRIPS agreement is so important that there is a separate TRIPS section on the WTO web site (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm). TRIPS addresses how to protect intellectual property through baseline levels of legal protection, how countries should enforce those rights, and how to settle disputes between WTO members. The heart of the WTO web site for primary sources is the On-line Documents Database (http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/ddf_e/ddf_e.htm). Another essential resource on the WTO web site is the list of panel, appeal, and arbitration rulings (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/distabase_e.htm). These reports are also available on LEXIS: ITRADE;WTODS (1996-) and WESTLAW: WTO-DEC (1996-).
In addition to the TRIPS Agreement, the WTO has more recently promulgated the Doha Ministerial Declaration (http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/min01_e.htm) which, in part, discusses world trade, less developed countries, and the pharmaceuticals sector, particularly as they relate to patent and patent licensing issues. Information about subsequent implementation of the Doha Ministerial Declaration can be found here (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm).
Due to the complexity of determining the relationship between WTO and WIPO, there is a separate WTO-WIPO Cooperation Agreement (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/wtowip_e.htm).
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (http://www.icann.org) is an international non-profit organization responsible for, among other things, Internet domain name management. It was founded in 1998 based on ideas set out in US Department of Commerce policy documents. ICANN is most directly related to intellectual property when there is a conflict between a registered Internet domain name and trademark holder of a related mark. For such disputes, ICANN has a Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) (http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/policy.htm) and Rules for the Policy (http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/uniform-rules.htm). To arbitrate these disputes, ICANN maintains a list of Approved Dispute Resolution Service Providers (http://www.icann.org/dndr/udrp/approved-providers.htm) (one of which is WIPO). The Decisions and Proceedings (http://www.icann.org/udrp/#proceedings) themselves are also available on the ICANN web site. They are also available at the University of Massachusetts Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution (http://www.umass.edu/cyber/searchicann.html), Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Database (http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrpdec.htm), and WESTLAW: udrp-arb (2000-).
C. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (http://www.oecd.org/home/) is an organization of thirty member nations committed to democracy and market economies. It grew out of the post-World War II Marshall Plan as a way of distributing aid for the rebuilding of Europe. The OECD has a Directorate for Science, Technology, and Industry (http://www.oecd.org/department/) that investigates how intellectual property rights and models affect economic development. The OECD conducts ministerial conferences, workshops, and seminars on a wide range of topics, from publicly funded research to patent policy.
D. Hague Conference on Private International Law (Hague Conference)
The Hague Conference on Private International Law (Hague Conference) (http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php), founded in 1893 and made permanent in 1955, is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to unifying private international law. As such, it deals with an extraordinarily wide range of private international law issues. Among them is a Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=98) that covers issues related to the international licensing of intellectual property. The Convention has not yet entered into force anywhere.
In 1983, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Japanese Patent Office, and the European Patent Office started a joint venture to coordinate aspects of their administrative functions. It has more recently been working towards developing a worldwide patent-granting system. As part of the Trilateral Co-operation, the three offices have recently created a new Trilateral Web Site (http://www.trilateral.net/). Not all the content related to the Trilateral Co-operation is on the main web site.
International organizations with their ambitions of global intellectual property harmonization face extreme challenges due to the diversity of nations, their differing economic situations, and their multitude of legal histories. Regional organizations, which are often groups of similarly-situated nations, are often in a better position to bridge national legal differences in intellectual property laws in ways that international organizations and wide-ranging multilateral treaties cannot.
A. Regional Africa
i. African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI)
The African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) (http://www.oapi.wipo.net/en/OAPI/index.htm) was created by the 1977 Bangui Agreement (http://www.oapi.wipo.net/doc/en/bangui_agreement.pdf) and includes 16 primarily French-speaking African nations seeking to harmonize their industrial property systems. Up until 1962, many of the member nations were governed by French patent law. From 1962 to 1977, a slightly different group of nations was governed by the Libreville Agreement. Guides and forms (http://www.oapi.wipo.net/en/outils/guides.htm) should soon be available at the OAPI web site.
ii. African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO)
African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO) (http://www.aripo.org/), created by the 1976 Lusaka Agreement (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/Protocols/lusaka_agreement.pdf), is composed of many of the English-speaking African countries. ARIPO was formed to coordinate the industrial property systems of the members. The Harare Protocol (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/Protocols/harare_agreement.pdf)governs patents and industrial designs. The Banjul Protocol (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/Protocols/banjul_protocol.pdf) governs trademarks. Along with the major documents, the ARIPO web site also includes patent and trademark forms (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/) and a FAQ (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/faq.pdf). The ARIPO web site also includes a list of active patent agents/attorneys in the member nations (http://www.aripo.org/Documents/Protocols/Agents.pdf).
The Organization of American States (OAS) (http://www.oas.org/) is a regional organization formed in 1948 by the Charter of the Organization of American States (http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/oasinbrief.asp). It now has 35 member nations dedicated to a wide range of goals, including promoting democracy, furthering the peace process, and defending human rights. In 1995, the OAS formed the Trade Unit (http://www.sice.org) that addresses free trade issues in the region. The Trade Unit has a specialized intellectual property webpage (http://www.sice.org/int_prop/int_prop_e.asp) with links to national legislation (http://www.sice.org/int_prop/ipnale.asp) and national intellectual property authorities (http://www.sice.org/int_prop/ip_dir.asp). The OAS web site also includes a webpage (http://www.sice.org/tpd/ftaa/ftaa_e.asp) about the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), which includes intellectual property. The FTAA is discussed separately below.
ii. Common Market of the South – Mercado Sur (MERCOSUR)
MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL (http://www.mercosur.int/msweb/), formed in 1991, is a group of four South American countries committed to forming a common market based on the Treaty of Asuncion. Member states have adopted the Protocol for Harmonization of Intellectual Property Rights, Trademarks, and Origins (http://www.sice.org/Trade/MRCSRS/Decisions/dec0895.asp) (in Spanish). Other MERCOSUR documents are available on the main web site (http://www.mercosur.int/msweb/) in Spanish and Portuguese.
iii. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Secretariat
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Secretariat (http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=299) was formed as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx?DetailID=78) which came into effect in 1994 with three member states. NAFTA includes the elimination of trade barriers and the creation of a dispute resolution system. The main web site (http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx) includes the Status of the Dispute Settlement Proceedings (http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx?articleid=9) and Panel Decisions and Reports (http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/DefaultSite/index_e.aspx?articleid=76). Although so far the vast majority of the reported disputes involve goods rather than intellectual property, intellectual property is within the scope of NAFTA. NAFTA Panel Review Decisions are also available commercially on LEXIS: intlaw;nafdec (1995-) and WESTLAW: nafta-bip (1995-).
The Andean Community (http://www.comunidadandina.org/endex.htm) is a group of countries in northwestern South America that have formed a free trade zone based on the 1969 Cartagena Agreement (http://www.comunidadandina.org/ingles/normativa/ande_trie1.htm). The web site includes treaties and protocols (http://www.comunidadandina.org/ingles/treaties.htm). As the Cartagena Agreement includes harmonization of intellectual property laws, the web site also includes Decisions of the Community (http://www.comunidadandina.org/ingles/treaties.htm), which will occasionally address intellectual property issues.
D. Regional – Europe/Eurasian
i. European Union (EU)
The European Union (EU) (http://europa.eu/index_en.htm) is a regional organization created in 1958. The EU has numerous goals, including harmonization of internal laws, reduction of internal barriers, creation of a common external tariff, issuance of a common currency, and facilitation of free movement within the EU.
There are numerous areas within the EU’s goals that touch on intellectual property, but the most important is the one dedicated to harmonizing internal EU laws, the Internal Market (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm). This site divides intellectual property into industrial property (patents and trademarks) and copyright (copyright and neighboring rights). Industrial property (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/index_en.htm) includes a special section on the latest news (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/en/indprop/news/index.htm). The copyright section has a similar structure with a main page (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/index_en.htm) and the latest news (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/news/news_en.htm). Other parts of the Internal Market page (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/index_en.htm) link to pages on data protection, e-commerce, and unfair competition. The broader EU site also includes EU intellectual property policies (http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s06020.htm) and covers EU intellectual property and trade issues (http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/sectoral/intell_property/index_en.htm).
Finally, within the EU is a harmonized process for registering EU trademarks and designs (http://oami.europa.eu/). On October 1, 2004, the EU joined the Madrid Protocol (http://oami.europa.eu/en/mark/madrid/default.htm), so community trademarks can now be the basis for international trademark applications. It is relevant to note when searching for information about trademarks that some countries spell it "trademark", while others spell it "trade mark". When researching trademarks in the EU, it is worth starting with the substantial Frequently Asked Questions concerning the Community trade mark system (http://oami.europa.eu/en/mark/marque/question.htm). The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) site also includes publications (http://oami.europa.eu/en/office/diff/default.htm), notably the Community Trade Marks Bulletin (http://oami.europa.eu/bulletin/ctm/ctm_bulletin_en.htm) and National Law Relating to the Community Trade Mark (http://oami.europa.eu/en/mark/aspects/natlaw/default.htm). The site also includes the Register of OHIM Administrative Documents (http://oami.europa.eu/en/office/preg/preg2.htm), the searchable Community Trade Mark Consultation Service (http://oami.europa.eu/en/database/ctm-online.htm) for searching registered marks, and the Refused Trademarks, Opposition Decisions, Cancellation Decisions, and Boards of Appeal Decisions (http://oami.europa.eu/search/legaldocs/la/en_index.cfm). Along with trademarks, OHIM also oversees the registration of European Community designs. For more information on European Community designs, there is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page (http://oami.europa.eu/en/design/faq.htm).
To the extent that a case regarding intellectual property arises within the EU, rather than in a national court, the place to check would be the European Court of Justice (ECJ) web site (http://curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/index.htm).
The Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) (http://www.eapo.org/) was created in 1996 by the Eurasian Patent Convention (http://www.eapo.org/eng/documents/konvenci.html), due to the need for such an organization after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The EAPO web site includes news in English (http://www.eapo.org/eng/news/index.html) as well as information on how to get a Eurasian patent (http://www.eapo.org/eng/getpatent/) and related documents (http://www.eapo.org/eng/documents/).
b. Other Electronic Sources of Primary Law
There are numerous other electronic sources of primary law. Below are just a few of the more reliable and comprehensive free and commercial electronic sources. Due to the rapid change in electronic products, the list below is not intended as a detailed description of the products, but more as a pointer to potentially relevant resources.
International Legal Materials (http://www.asil.org/resources/ilm.html) is a bi-monthly print publication of the American Society of International Law that includes recent major international documents. ILM is also available on LEXIS (INTLAW; ILM and ILMTY from 1975) and WESTLAW from 1980 (ILM).
LEXIS (http://www.lexis.com) is a commercial aggregation of databases that includes thousands of news and law files. It is referred to above in the relevant sections and often has decisions of international tribunals and other dispute resolution panel reports. It has topical arrangements of its databases, so the most useful will likely be listed in LEXIS (COPYRT, PATENT, and TRDMRK libraries and US treaties database (INTLAW;USTRTY), which includes US treaties in force back to 1783.
The Multilaterals Project (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html) at the Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is a free web site that includes the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments. It includes searching by subject, date, and full-text.
Oceana, TIARA U.S. Treaties Researcher Database (http://www.oceanalaw.com/) is a commercial product that includes all US treaties from 1783 – 1990, and a wide array of post-1990 treaties. It is searchable in numerous ways and includes intellectual property treaties.
Readex AccessUN (http://infoweb.newsbank.com) is a subscription-based product with access restricted to subscribers. It indexes a vast number of UN documents, including reports, Official Records, draft resolutions, the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), and much more.
United Nations Treaty Collection (http://untreaty.un.org/) is a commercial product from the United Nations. It includes electronic versions of the Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations (and those deposited with the League of Nations) along with various bilateral treaties. The database is searchable by numerous criteria. The licensing agreement for this Collection used to be particularly strict, but has recently been revised.
WESTLAW (http://www.westlaw.com) is a commercial aggregation of databases, quite similar to LEXIS. It brings together a vast number of legal and news databases and includes a wide array of treaties and decisions, as well as secondary sources on international intellectual property. WESTLAW also includes Derwent World Patents Legal (DWPL), Patents Throughout the World (PATWORLD), TRADEMARKSCAN - European Community (IP-EC) and TRADEMARKSCAN - International Register (IP-WIPO).
For additional information on finding treaties in electronic format, see ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: Treaties Chapter (http://www.asil.org/resource/treaty1.htm).
VI. Primary National Legislation and Decisions
Along with the superb sources above, notably WIPO’s CLEA (http://www.wipo.int/clea/en/) and UNESCO’s Collection of National Copyright Laws (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/), there are several other excellent sources for national intellectual property legislation.
For a more official source for a particular jurisdiction’s laws, it is often worth checking the official web site(s) of the jurisdiction or a print compilation of national intellectual property laws.
VII. Secondary Sources
Although treaties, national domestic laws, and panel decisions are often essential for research in international intellectual property, here are a few sites with excellent discussions of international intellectual property issues. However, print sources are often better than electronic ones for getting a sense of an area of law.
BNA's Intellectual Property Library (http://iplaw.bna.com/iplw/) is a commercial subscription based service with primary sources that are very recent and legal intellectual property reporting from around the world.
Compleat World Copyright web site (http://www.compilerpress.atfreeweb.com/indices.htm) organizes articles on the web by major copyright scholars by author, country, institute, and journal.
Eldis Intellectual Property Rights Resource Guide (http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/trade-policy/intellectual-property-rights) includes thousands of free articles ranging from scholarly to journalistic. Its search engine makes it quite useful when seeking information on a particularly narrow area of law.
University of Melbourne's Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA) web site(http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/ipria/index.html) includes a section on International Developments in IP (http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/ipria/developments_in_ip/intdev/index.html).
VIII. Recommended Link sites
Instead of making hundreds of bookmarks for relevant sites, try starting with this ERG or one of the following sites. Each one includes hundreds of international intellectual property links.
v. Bezold & Sozien, IP-Links (http://www.ip-firm.de/index.htm) links to German/European IP news, laws, regulations, documents, and European Court of Justice IP decisions.
Phillips, Ormonde & Fitzpatrick, IPMenu (http://www.ipmenu.com/) links to numerous international intellectual property web sites. It is organized topically with annotations, headlines, intellectual property conferences, and other practical information.
Michael Geist, BNA's Internet Law News (http://www.bna.com/ilaw/) is a free electronic newsletter. The web site includes a sample newsletter and free registration to the daily email newsletter
Douglas Isenberg, GigaLaw.com Daily News (http://www.gigalaw.com/newsletters/dailynews.html) includes subscription information for this free daily email newsletter.
XI. Electronic Discussion Lists
CNI-COPYRIGHT on LISTPROC@CNI.ORG (Copyright and Intellectual Property Forum) is a fairly US-centered email discussion list on which international copyright issues are sometimes raised. Subscription information is available at this web site (http://www.cni.org/Hforums/cni-copyright/).
INTELLECTUALPROP on LISTSERV@ABANET.ORG (International Intellectual Property Law and Practice) is an email list that is only available to American Bar Association members. Subscription information is available at this web site (http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/section%20listserves.htm).
LibLicense-L (Library Licensing Issues) is a list for those interested in US, European, and international licensing issues related to libraries. Subscription information is available at this web site (http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/mailing-list.shtml).
XII. Blogs
Franklin Pierce Law Center, IP News Blog (http://ipnewsblog.com/)
