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5 PTC Newsl. 1 (1986-1987)

handle is hein.journals/iprolane5 and id is 1 raw text is: Published by the Section of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law of the American Bar Association Volume 5, Number 1, Winter/Spring 1986 CHaiRman's LeTTeR ABA Annual Meeting in New York City The dates of this meeting for our Section are August 8-- 13, 1986. It will be held at the Plaza Ho- tel. The business program will include Committee-generated Patent /Trademark/ Copyright- related resolutions that will be up for review, discussion and vote. The educational side of the meeting will include several Intellectual Property (IP) con- 1. jan janin, Jr. tinuing legal education sessions. In addition, there will be more to the meeting in the way of state-of-the-art ex- hibits, seminars with and by other ABA entities, and possibly most importantly the opportunity to make direct one-on-one contact with other professionals. I sincerely hope that you will attend and participate in our Section's upcoming Annual Meeting. What Is Intellectual Property? This is no longer simply an academic question. We know that use of the term Intellectual Property, or its substitute IP, is quite common in current literature and other forms of communication and reference. Some government, industry and professional organizations even include the term in their names. Recently the De- partment of State sponsored a conference on the possi- bility of inserting an IP code into an international trade treaty such as GATT which, for example, could provide a trade-based dispute/enforcement mechanism for use against member nations that failed to meet specified IP standards. All of this prompted a need on our part to learn some- thing more about the scope of intellectual property. This also prompted a desire on our part to look at WIPO's longstanding definition for IP-i.e., rights Copyright ) 1986 American Bar Association relating to: literary, artistic and scientific works; perfor- mances of performing artists, phonograms, and broad- casts; inventions in all fields of human endeavor; scien- tific discoveries; industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations; protec- tion against unfair competition; and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields--and to share this definition with you. A short-hand definition might be said to include pa- tents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other proprietary technical data, which is broad enough to in- clude mask works, among other things. The key point seems to be that in any such definition, an IP right is a valuable property right associated with an idea. The Relationship Between IP and International Trade Is Growing It's akin to a moving train that we should anticipate is coming and something about which we should know more. It is one of today's signs of the times. The Reagan Administration supports multilateral trade negotiations that include anticounterfeiting and IP codes. Incorporating such codes within a trade treaty is seen by the Administration as being consistent with free trade and not incompatible with GATT. The Administration also supports the conduct of con- current bilateral negotiations pertaining to the protec- tion and enforcement of IP rights, whether carried out in a consulting/educational way, or relative to GSP benefits, or by way of a Trade Act § 301 action. Protecting and enforcing IP rights are viewed as being very important to the national economy. Accordingly, we can anticipate that the relationship between IP and international trade will continue to share the spotlight for some time to come. Further, we can expect that this will be an area of growing importance to our Section. (continued on page 11) Produced by the ABA Press

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