Protecting Intellectual Assets Across Borders

Chapter 3 details the methods for protecting intellectual property and other assets internationally. It summarizes the main provisions of the major substantive intellectual property (IP) treaties, focusing on three general principles: the territorial independence of IP, nondiscrimination, and priority rights for patents and trademarks. It then summarizes the main substantive harmonizations of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), the Paris Convention, and the Berne Convention. It then introduces the procedures for multinational patent protection under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and trademark protection under Madrid Protocol. It also details the systems for multinational and regional protection of patents and trademarks in the EU and elsewhere. It describes the customs recordation process provided by U.S. law to prevent IP-infringing imports, explains the Section 337 trade remedies procedure, and concludes with a discussion of the evolution of U.S. law regulating parallel imports.