This booklet provides an introduction for newcomers to the subject of industrial property. It explains the principles underpinning industrial property rights, and describes the most common forms of industrial property, including patents and utility models for inventions, industrial designs, trademarks and geographical indications.

In order to place the 25 years in a historical context, the essay does, exceptionally, deal also with pre-1967 events and with post-1992 possibilities.

As technological developments multiply around the globeâ€"even as the patenting of human genes comes under serious discussionâ€"nations, companies, and researchers find themselves in conflict over intellectual property rights (IPRs). Now, an international group of experts presents the first multidisciplinary look at IPRs in an age of explosive growth in science and technology. This thought-provoking volume offers an update on current international IPR negotiations and includes case studies on software, computer chips, optoelectronics, and biotechnologyâ€"areas characterized by high development cost and easy reproducibility. The volume covers these and other issues: Modern economic theory as a basis for approaching international IPRs. U.S. intellectual property practices versus those in Japan, India, the European Community, and the developing and newly industrializing countries. Trends in science and technology and how they affect IPRs. Pros and cons of a uniform international IPRs regime versus a system reflecting national differences.

Professor Ricketson discusses the origins of the agreement, giving an overview of early debates about patent protection, before outlining the negotiations that led to the initial adoption of the Convention. He outlines the subsequent revisions of the Convention, and gives an overview of the present scope of the Convention, including the gradual expansion to include trade marks, designs and other industrial property titles, and its incorporation into the WTO through the TRIPS agreement.

This book discusses the TRIPs Agreement, the Madrid Protocol and other international conventions, and compares the basic principles of U.S. law with Asian & European law.