Md. Arshad Alam & Raunak Jain
Introduction
Intellectual property has a dual nature, i.e. it has both: a national as well as an international dimension to it. For instance, patents in every country are governed by their national laws that provide for legalities like the process of filing, parameters for receiving registration etc.; while international conventions on patents ensure minimum rights and provide certain measurements for enforcement of rights by the contracting parties.1 An international IRP system that is efficient and equitable will assist all the countries to realize the potential of Intellectual Property as a catalyst for economic development as well as for social and cultural well-being.2 Conventionally at the international level, IP has five acknowledged forms: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and industrial designs, all of which generally subsume, even if in parts, to the new types of IP protections including geographical indications, cultural expressions and traditional knowledge.
