Global Intellectual Property Law: Patent, Copyright, and Trademark Laws

Global Intellectual Property Law
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Global Intellectual Property Law
1 Arya and Morph Inc’s Case
TRIP Agreements
In a knowledge economy, control and knowledge are key elements that have become important policy agendas in modern society. The creativity and inventiveness of workers have become important factors for the success of organizations globally. For this reason, there is a need to have a system that can foster innovation and profit companies where such innovations take place. Inventions and patents are covered under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) (Dutfield & Suthersanen, 2010). Since the WTO Agreement on TRIPs incorporates or supersedes any previous international conventions on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), TRIPs provide a general framework for enforcement and protection of those rights (de Carvalho, 2010). Unlike IPs, patents are more regulated, and laws governing patents tend to differ from country to country, even within the United States or the European Union. Cardwell and Ghazalian (2012) have investigated the effectiveness of TRIPs Agreements in evoking sweeping changes to IPR. TRIPs provide for state parties to adopt minimum and uniform IP protection standards.
However, critics such as Joseph E. Stiglitz have condemned TRIPs claiming that it fails to consider developing countries and the industrialized world as separate cases since the regulations make it difficult for people in developing nations to afford cheap generic drugs (Suthersanen, 2009). However, there is a lacuna within the WTO’s TRIPs regarding patent ownership while employees are inactive contracts. Inventions made by employees during the normal working time will automatically belong to the employer, and many inventors would expect recognition for their efforts. Arya’s invention of the MALARIA23 vaccine is a typical example of such works resulting from using resources, funding, and employees at Morph Inc. Regarding the hindrance of the access of the novel MALARIA3 vaccine in developing nations, the rules under TRIPs strike a balance between the public and pharmaceutical companies’ interests through flexible conditions that define the accessibility of patented products such as essential medicines to the public (Adeyele, 2018). Therefore, under TRIPs, Arya will be allowed to patent her invention based on the classification of her vaccine to balance the interests of the public and the pharmaceutical industry.
US Law
It is a tradition for employees to sign confidentiality and invention assignment agreements in the United States context. Nevertheless, other states such as Washington and California have some statutory restrictions on employees that require them to assign discoveries employees have made entirely independently without using the employer’s resources and are largely unrelated to the employee’s business. In this case, Arya’s work on the new vaccine may be eligible for a patent in other states except for Washington and California. The two states will prohibit patenting the vaccine as Arya relied on her employers, Morph Inc. resources, to research and develop the novel MALARIA...