I. Concept of international protection of intellectual property rights
The international protection of intellectual property rights refers to a relatively unified international legal system based on multilateral international treaties and coordinated by intergovernmental international organizations.
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The international protection of intellectual property rights does not mean that domestic laws are used to protect intellectual property rights arising from foreign laws. First of all, it refers to how countries that have participated in international intellectual property conventions or concluded bilateral intellectual property treaties can fulfill their international treaty obligations through their "public" actions (such as legislation).
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The international protection system of intellectual property rights rose in the 1980s of 19. Generally speaking, international protection of intellectual property rights can be achieved through different channels, such as reciprocal protection, unilateral protection, bilateral treaty protection and multilateral convention protection. 1883 Paris Convention, 1886 Berne Convention, 189 1 Madrid Agreement, 1967 World Intellectual Property Organization Convention and 1994 Trips Agreement.
These international conventions stipulate the basic norms that its members must follow, endow them with corresponding rights and obligations, and influence the legislation and judicature of intellectual property protection in China. It can be said that in the current international society, people attach more importance to international conventions on intellectual property than domestic intellectual property legislation. International intergovernmental organizations that manage these conventions, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization, play an indispensable role in coordinating the intellectual property legislation of member countries, encouraging and promoting the conclusion of new international agreements on intellectual property rights, and taking necessary measures to resolve intellectual property disputes and related trade disputes among member countries. Under the coordination of intergovernmental international organizations and the influence of international conventions, the intellectual property system of member countries has gradually entered the stage of integration with similar substantive standards and legal rules.
Second, the characteristics of international protection of intellectual property rights
Under the framework of international conventions based on Trips agreement, the international protection of intellectual property rights has the following characteristics.
1. Internationalization of intellectual property protection standards. Before the appearance of Paris Convention and Berne Convention, the formulation and revision of intellectual property laws in various countries were basically fragmented. These two conventions were the first attempt to internationalize intellectual property protection. In the process of fulfilling the obligations of the Convention, all member States must revise their domestic laws in accordance with the standards of the Convention. Trips agreement provides a legal framework for a single intellectual property system by setting minimum standards, promotes the unification of intellectual property protection standards of member countries, and provides a dispute settlement mechanism that does not meet the minimum standards of the agreement. Therefore, although the contents of intellectual property legislation in different countries are different, within the scope of the above-mentioned conventions, the standards of intellectual property protection in various countries are becoming more and more similar.
2. A high degree of intellectual property protection. The Convention on International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights was initiated and formulated by developed countries according to their development needs in the international community. The new standards of contemporary international intellectual property protection established by the convention are basically the strengths of developed countries. Taking Trips Agreement as an example, the high level of intellectual property protection is mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, undisclosed information is included in its protection scope for the first time, which was not stipulated in previous international intellectual property conventions. Second, further extend the term of protection of intellectual property rights, for example, stipulate that the term of protection of patents shall not be less than 20 years; The protection period of integrated circuit layout design shall not be less than 10 years. Third, the specific obligations and measures of detailed administrative and judicial procedures are stipulated, and the dispute settlement mechanism of member States is stipulated, allowing member States to apply cross-retaliation against countries that violate their obligations.
3. Integration of intellectual property protection system and trade system. Before the Trips Agreement came into being, the international protection of intellectual property rights and international trade were managed by two different international organizations and their legal systems, namely the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). WIPO has always been the only specialized international organization in the world to solve the problem of intellectual property protection, which governs almost all intellectual property conventions. It devotes itself to international exchange and cooperation of intellectual property rights, promotes worldwide intellectual property protection through cooperation between countries, and has a unique authority in the field of international intellectual property protection. The WTO and its legal system include intellectual property rights in its scope, hoping to reduce distortions and obstacles in international trade, promote effective and full protection of intellectual property rights, and ensure that the measures and procedures for implementing intellectual property rights will not become legal barriers to trade. The birth of Trips Agreement not only brought about a new pattern of "coexistence of original protection system and trade system" in the field of international protection of intellectual property rights, but also gave it a priority position in the field of international protection of intellectual property rights by virtue of its powerful trade implementation mechanism.
4. Expand the scope of intellectual property protection. The scope of international protection of contemporary intellectual property rights involves almost all intellectual products.