Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an agreement produced by WTO to protect intellectual property from other WTO members. 150 countries are members of WTO as of 11th of January 2007 and that includes Australia and China. Therefore, when you take your business over to China, intellectual property right on the CATTS Coffee House should be protected. The areas covered by TRIPS agreement are: copyright, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, layout-designs of integrated circuits and undisclosed information.
Copyright
Copyright protects things like computer programs, books, films and sound recordings. The CATTS Coffee House has a recipe book and DVD on how to make cakes and cookies called ‘Too easy, no worries. Even a cat can make it! – How to make yummy cakes and cookies’. The book can be interpreted in Chinese and DVD can be subtitled and sold there. Also the theme song for the CATTS Coffee House ‘Addicted to CATTS’ can be translated in Chinese and used. Book, DVD and theme song will be protected by copyright.
Trademarks
Brand names and logos can be registered as trademarks. Sam, you may have often seen signs like ? and ? but what are the difference between them? ? is used for registered trademarks and ? is used for trademark that is not yet registered. You may use ? overseas as long you show the country that the trademark is registered. However there is a protocol called Madrid Protocol which will make registering your trademark internationally easy for you. The Madrid Protocol covers Japan, the United Kingdom, European Union countries and China with single document, your trademark will be registered within these countries.
Industrial designs
Under this category, it refers to products ...