Seven years respite for LDCs
The World Trade Organiation (wto) has extended the deadline for its 32-member Least Developed Countries (ldcs) to comply with the wto intellectual property (ip) regime until July 2013. The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (trips) agreement, effective since 1995, had earlier given ldc s until January 2006 for the same. trips includes norms on patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs and geographical indicators. This could allow ldcs to produce cheaper generic versions of products sold at a premium in other countries.
trips lays down standards for ip laws, such as a 20-year protection for a patent. An extension on this was expected but agreement could not be reached on whether the extension should apply to all 32 ldcs or on a country-by-country basis. Pharmaceutical products are exempt from this extension.