ABSTRACT
An international trade agreement signed in 1947 to promote trade between member nations through the reduction of trade barriers by eliminating tariffs, import quotas, and subsidies.
The formation of GATT and its subsequent amendments led to the founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This took place at the third general meeting, known as the Uruguay Round, between 1986 and 1994, which extended the agreement to include areas such as intellectual property and to comply with provisions of the Berne Convention
GATT special section that deals with intellectual property, the TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement required industrialized countries to implement provisions within one year of the WTO agreement taking effect. Less developed countries were given a five-to-ten-year period to comply with most provisions depending on their state of economic development. Under GATT, fair use was limited to “certain special cases that do not conflict with normal exploitation of a work.” This provided minimum rights for the protection of performers, producers of phonogram, and broadcasting organizations on an international basis. GATT also required signatories to provide geographical indications of origin and that damages awarded for infringement of an intellectual property must be “adequate to compensate for the injury” suffered. Finally, GATT required countries to develop procedures by customs authorities at national boundaries to intercept pirated copyrighted goods. This was an attempt to curtail the ever-growing piracy of digital music.
