About TRIPS

• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• The Agreement, which came into effect on 1 January 1995, is a comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property.
• The TRIPS Agreement is often described as one of the three “pillars” of the WTO, the other two being trade in goods and trade in services.
• To facilitate the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, the Council for TRIPS concluded with WIPO an agreement on cooperation between WIPO and the WTO, which came into force on 1 January 1996. 

Why in News?

• India, South Africa and 60 other countries have sought a 3 year waiver on Intellectual Property Rights for Covid-19 medical products at the World Trade Organization under the TRIPS agreement.
• A fresh proposal submitted by these countries also has a provision to review the duration annually.
• The previous draft proposed by India and South Africa focussed on the prevention, treatment or containment of Covid-19 which was termed broad. The revised proposal seeks to add specificity to the decision text following concern that the original decision text was too broad.

Reference:

http://newsonair.com/News?title=India%2c-South-Africa-and-60-other-countries-moot-3-year-IPR-waiver-for-COVID-19-related-medical-products-at-WTO&id=417678