IP laws can have quite a large impact on IT-based businesses, especially in relation to liability for acts in the online environment. The DR-CAFTA agreement covers many areas of intellectual property, including areas that might not strictly be ‘IP’ but are highly related.

This includes:

  • Patents
  • Copyright
  • Trade marks
  • Geographical indications of origin
  • Domestic content restrictions
  • Satellite signals, and
  • Patents and public health issues.

The agreement covers many of these areas directly, but also sets standards by including requirements to accede or make efforts to accede to external treaties related to intellectual property. The following IPR treaties are required by DR-CAFTA:

  • WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996);
  • WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996);
  • Patent Cooperation Treaty as revised and amended (1970);
  • Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (1980);
  • Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (1974); and
  • Trademark Law Treaty (1994).

The International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 1991) is required unless the party offers ‘effective patent protection for plants’, in which case they are required to make ‘all reasonable efforts to ratify or accede to the UPOV Convention’.

The following treaties are not mandatory, but parties ‘shall make all reasonable efforts to ratify or accede to’ the:

  • Patent Law Treaty (2000);
  • Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (1999); and
  • Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1989).

It should also be noted that TRIPs, of which all parties are a member, includes obligations under other treaties as well, such as the Berne and Paris Conventions.

As discussed in an earlier post, DR-CAFTA also contains rules regarding anti-circumvention, which are based on the DMCA in the US. This is a rule on how to implement the two WIPO Internet Treaties (the WCT and WPPT), and is generally regarded as the maximalist approach.

In the report / study, we will be focussing in on IP rules in relation to:

  • UDRP for ccTLDs
  • Anti-circumvention law
  • Pre-established damages and copyright
  • Intermediary liability and copyright

These areas, together with telecoms regulation, and e-commerce, will make up the bulk of the report.