The key provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) accord, which was approved by the U. S. Congress on December 1, 1994, will slash tariffs globally by roughly 40 percent, extend intellectual-property protection worldwide, and tighten rules on investment and trade in services. It further provides, via a side agreement, to standardize many of the terms of a U. S. patent, which, undoubtedly, will open a broader debate on patent reform. The sweeping world-trade agreement took seven years to negotiate and, although 124 nations have signed the GATT accord, only about 40 nations thus far have given their final approval to its terms. Subsequent to its approval by Congress, the 47-year old GATT will be succeeded, on January 1, 1995, by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will be charged with the supervision and enforcement of the agreement, and will use the threat of trade sanctions as its club. What GATT will do is provide substantially higher standards of protection, covering a full range of intellectual property rights (IPR) related to patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets and geographic indications, and the rest of the world will be required to adhere to standards similar to those the U. S. already has in place.
In the area of IPRs, the agreement provides: more expeditious and vigorous action to resolve disputes; seven year protection for trademarks; 20 year protection for patents; and up to 50 years protection for copyrights, all representing a significant triumph for the book, software, film and pharmaceutical industries. At issue is the official date an invention was invented. Was it when Edison's light bulb went on, or when he sent the paperwork to the Patent office? Or, was it the date when the patent was officially registered? Or was it, perhaps, when the technology was applied to the product. The date is important, it is argued, not only for product protection, but for t...