International/Foreign/Comparative Intellectual Property Internet Resources

By Tingxia Liang & Xiang Gao

There is a wealth of legal information available on the Internet. However, it doesn't mean you could find what you want at once on this sea of information. One characteristic of Internet is that the information is seldom supervised or evaluated. As far as this subject topic is concerned, there often came out a lot of hits after key words are entered to search. However, not all of the results are valuable. Some of them are totally irrelevant to the topic, and some IP menus are just lists of links to lists of links. It seems a circuitous and time-consuming way to international, foreign, or comparative IP resources on the Internet. In our definitions, "International resources" means IP laws or agreements between or among countries and/or regions; "Foreign resources" means non-U.S. IP laws or regulations; "Comparative resources" means comparison of IP laws between two countries. Our product evaluation is to assist others in finding the relevant IP laws as quickly, broadly, or directly as possible. To sift out the most valuable information, we applied at least three criteria: First, the resources from official or organizational sites are often more reliable than those from private sites. Second, the more recently updated the site is, the better. Third, the more frequently a site is linked, the more authoritative it seems to be. Then we organize these information into three sections as follows:

I. International Intellectual Property Internet Resources

In this section, we list some sites that contain the said resources.

http://www.wipoint/

WIPO is responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property. In English, French and Spanish. This site includes the most comprehensive full-text International treaties or conventions listed as follows:

Treaties in the field of industrial property:

• Treaties Providing for the Substantive Protection of Industrial Property
• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883)
• Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods (1891)
• Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol (1981)
• Washington Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (1989)
• Trademark Law Treaty ("TLT")(1994)

Treaties Facilitating the Acquisition of Industrial Property Protection in Several Countries:

• In the field of patents:
  • Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT") (1970)
  • Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (1977)
• In the field of trademarks:
  • Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1891)
  • Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1989)
• In the field of appellations of origin:
  • Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration (1958)
• In the field of industrial designs:
  • Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs (1925)

Treaties Establishing International Classifications

• Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (1971)
• Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (1957)
• Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (1973)
• Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs (1968)

Treaties in the field of Copyright and Neighboring Rights

• Treaty Providing for the Protection of Copyright
• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886)
• WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) (1996)
• WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) (1996)

Treaties Providing for the Protection of Neighboring Rights

• Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961)
• Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (1971)
• Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (1974)
• Documents of the Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions (Geneva, December 2 to 20, 1996)
• WIPO Copyright Treaty
• WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty
• Agreed Statements Concerning the WIPO Copyright Treaty
• Agreed Statements Concerning the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty

U.S. House of Representatives - Internet Law Library - Treaties and international law

http://law.house.gov/89.htm

Very comprehensive list of links to the sites of treaties and international law, which include some international IP links:

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work
• intellectual property treaties compiled by the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department
• Patent Cooperation Treaty
• Patent Cooperation Treaty and related information
• Patent Cooperation Treaty regulations
• Universal Copyright Convention
• Uruguay Round Agreements Act (Pub. L. 103-465), title V (Intellectual Property)
• World Intellectual Property Organization publications (in English, French and Spanish)
• "Intellectual Property Provisions of GATT" Ladas & Parry
• "International Licensing of Intellectual Property: The Promise and the Peril" by Nicolas S. Gikkas
• "NAFTA and GATT: Intellectual Property Issues" Ladas & Parry
• "Trademarks - The Madrid Protocol: A non-European View" Ladas & Parry

US and International Legal Materials

http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/menu5.html

By United States Patent and Trademark Office: This site includes such text of IP-related treaties as WIPO Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights Questions, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Uruguay GATT, Trilateral Conferences - "Patent Office Operations in the Electronic Age" & "Electronic Records Management", and other IP offices.

Cornell Law School

http://www.law.cornell.edu

The Legal Information Institute (LII) has comprehensive legal resources including such full-text treaties as Patent Cooperation Treaty, Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Universal Copyright Convention, Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms, and International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations.

Bitlaw - Primary Sources

http://www.bitlaw.com/source/index.html#treaties

This site contains well-organized full-text Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty and Proposed WIPO Database Treaty.

Hieros Gamos II Intellectual Property

wysiwyg://54/http://www.hg.org/intell.html

One of the most comprehensive links to international treaties, WIPO, European Union, NAFTA and GATT.

International IP Protection Resource Materials

http://www.houston.com.hk:80/hkgipd/treaties.html

By Intellectual Property Department Hong Kong Government. This page provides a comprehensive link to World Wide Web pages containing information about WIPO together with texts of international conventions and treaties concerning the protection of intellectual property.

EFF Intellectual Property Policy & Issues Archive

http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual property/

A comprehensive collection of modern articles regarding IP Policies and Issues, including hot links to International intellectual property resources on the web.

IPRL - IP Professionals Reading Room

http://www.servtech.com/public/mbobb/pro_legal.htm#intl

One portion of The Intellectual Property Reference Library. Links to many treaties.

University of Arizona IP Homepage

http://www.pls.com:8001/his/105.htm

A well-organized collection of IP resources which include Paris Convention, PCT, the U.N.T.S. Universal Copyright Convention (as revised 1971 in Paris), Convention for the protection of Producers of Phonograms, and International Convention for the Protection of Performers. International copyright information by U.S. Copyright Office. Info on BC and UCC.

Master-McNeil, Inc

http://www.naming.com/naming/html

MM's Trademark Information Resource which provides a list of the international trademark classes with full goods/services descriptions.

Yahoo Intellectual Property Links

http://www.yahoo.com/law/Intellectual Property

Includes a link to International Trademark Classes with full goods/services descriptions.

Patent Drawing & Design Unlimited

http://www.webcom.com/~scpatent/scpa.html

The Patent News Front includes a summary of GATT and Intellectual Property, the text to the GATT agreement, and GATT notes and opinion.

Protection of Intellectual Property

http://ananse.irv.uit.no/trade_law/nav/i_p.html

Well-organized links to treaties, laws and regulations and some important IP sites under the subsections of ITL, copyright, patent, industrial designs, and trademarks.

Intellectual Property Center

http://www.ipcenter.com/

Well-organized directories. Huge International IP info including treaties and articles.

All About Trademarks

http://www.ggmark.com/

One of the most comprehensive links to IP info especially about Trademark. Links to full-text GATT's IP provisions, NAFTA's IP Provisions, Paris Conventions including the most recent amendments, and Madrid Protocol, Berne Convention. Also to INTA and WIPO.

Intellectual Property Law Hotlinks

http://w3.gwis.com/%7Esarbar/index.html

Frustrated by ad infinitum, Larry Sahr constructed these IP law short-cut hotlinks to go directly to very pertinent info and data.

Berne Convention For the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

gopher://gopher.law.cornell.edu:70/00/foreign/fletcher/BH006-1971.txt

The full text of this convention.

Paris Convention For The Protection of Industrial Property

gopher://gopher.law.cornell.edu:70/00/fletcher/UNTS11851.txt

The full text of this convention.

Patent Cooperation Treaty Legal Office

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapps/pct/

Contains basic facts about the PCT and PCT Contracting States.

Summary of Section I

The most comprehensive International IP Internet resources can be found on the web site of World Intellectual Property Organization because it contains nearly all important international conventions and treaties in full-text. The other sites either include several full-text international laws or only summaries of them. Therefore, it is suggestive of always beginning at this site to get international IP resources.

II. Foreign Intellectual Property Internet Resources

This section is divided into two parts. Subsection A is about sites that contain the said resources. Subsection B is about IP resources in individual countries or regional communities arranged alphabetically.

A. Sites That Contain Foreign Intellectual Property Internet Resources

http://www.wipo.int/eng/general/pcipi/otherwww/ipo_web.htm

This page provides addresses of existing web sites of industrial property offices of some countries.

Intellectual Property Resources on the Web: Mountain Man Graphics

http://magna.com.au/%7eprfbrown/ip_links.html

A comprehensive collection of links to IP resources including Australian IP resources, IP offices in the world, Canadian IP law resources, European IP law resources, New Zealand IP law resources, and Japanese IP law resources.

Related Web Sites

http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/other.html

By US patent and Trademark Office. Comprehensive links to foreign IP offices and WIPO organizations.

U.S. House of Representatives - Internet Law Library - Intellectual Property: General

http://law.house.gov/105.htm

This official site links to IP information of some foreign countries such as Croatia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan.

Intellectual Property Center

http://www.ipcenter.com

Well-organized directories. Huge non-U.S. IP info including law regulations, articles and news.

Access Intellectual Property & International IP Sites

http://access-iplaw.com/internip.html

Contains international IP sites mainly about Asia, Australia, Canada, French, EU, Hong Kong, Japan, UK.

Hieros Gamos II Intellectual Property

wysiwyg://54/http://www.hg.org/intell.html

One of the most comprehensive links to national regimes concerning IP. Different from some sites only linking to IP offices, this site mostly links to laws and regulations of different countries.

Summary of Intellectual Property and Licensing Laws

http://www.hg.org/supp14.txt

Brief summaries of intellectual property laws of many countries arranged alphabetically. Subjects include patents, industrial designs and models, copyrights, and trademarks.

Thomson & Thomson

http://www.thomson.com/thomthom.html

It produces customized trademark & copyright research reports as well as online databases for customers worldwide. Trademark Online made available through a partnership between Thomson & Thomson and Dialog Information Services. Only subscriber can have access to this system. Databases currently available: Austria, Benelux, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, International Register, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Switzerland, United Kingdom, U.S.

All About Trademarks

http://www.ggmark.com/

One of the most comprehensive links to IP info especially about Trademark. The section of International Trademark Laws and Treaties annotates the trademark acts of many countries arranged alphabetically. Summary or complete text of each act is clearly shown.

Chicago-Kent Intellectual Property Resources

http://www.kentlaw.edu/lawlinks/ip.html

Its patent links contain one-stop for Japanese Patent & Trademark Information on the Internet. This a fee-based service that allows you to order Japanese Patents on the Internet.

Da Vinci Design Company

http://www.sccsi.com/DaVinci/patentfaq.html

Excellent patent FAQ for quick reference, which includes Patent Protection in Froeign Countries.

Intellectual Property Law Hotlinks

http://w3.gwis.com/%7Esarbar/index.html

Frustrated by ad infinitum, Larry Sahr constructed these IP law short-cut hotlinks to go directly to very pertinent info and data.

B. Foreign Countries and Their Intellectual Property Internet Resources

1. Austria

http://www.ping.at/patent/index.htm

Information on this office in German.

http://www.hg.org/1079.txt

Full text of this Austrian Act.

2. Australia

http://www.aipo.gov.au/

Introduction to AIPO, IP strategies searching, fun data, patents, trade marks & designs, statistics & costs, and links to IP offices of some other countries.

Mountain Man Graphics

http://magna.com.au/%7eprfbrown/ip_links.html

The section of Australian IP law resources contain comprehensive links to the relevant acts and provisions.

http://www.apra.com.au/

APRA was established in 1926 to protect and administer the performing right granted to writers of music under the Copyright Act of 1912.

gopher://uniwa.uwa.edu/au/11s/compnet/legal

Info about Australian copyright law, computer and software regulations.

http://www.comlaw.utas.edu.au/law/jlis

By the Law School at the University of Tazmania. JoLIS is an international, cross-disciplinary journal devoted to issues relating to law and information science. The journal publishes twice yearly. Examples of topics include articles on law and artificial intelligence/ expert systems; computer law, intellectual property law issues, privacy concerns, computer crime, electronic commerce, use of technology in legal practice, technological developments in legal education, etc.

http://www.ionet.net/~mdyer/front.shtml

By Marshall S. Dyer. A monthly cyberzine covering legal developments in cyberspace and the online community.

3. Brazil

http://www.bdt.org.br/bdt/inpi

Contains the request for Patents in Brazil since 1992. It is the information from the Revista da Propridade industrial (RPI) structured as an online database by BDT (in Portuguese).

4. Canada

http://info.ic.gc.ca/ic-data/marketplace/cipo

In English and French. Contact information to this office, and full-text, hyperlinked guides to Canada's Patent, Copyright, Industrial design, and Trademark information.

Mountain Man Graphics

http://magna.com.au/%7eprfbrown/ip_links.html

The section of Canadian IP Resources contain links to CIPO, Canadian patent search, Bereskin & Parr and, Accountant's Manual - a CICA publication with IP & other legislative WWW resources.

http://cancopy.com/

A non-profit organization founded by Canadian writers and publishers. CANCOPY acts on behalf of artists, writers and publishers to grant permission to copy. A licensing fee or royalty is collected and given back to the artist, writer or publisher.

http://www.JurisDiction.com/

Canadian intellectual property and information technology articles and links relating to patent, trademark, copyright, biotechnology and computer law.

http://www.perlaw.ca/

Contains full-text Canadian IP acts.

http://access-iplaw.com/internip.html

Contains international IP sites mainly about Canada.

5. China

http://www.cpo.cn.net

In Chinese and English. Introduction to CPO, full-text Chinese Patent Law & Implementing Regulation under the Patent Law, full-text Chinese Trademark Law & Implementing Regulations under the Trademark Law, full-text Chinese Copyright Law. Links to Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, and Budapest Treaty. Guide to applicants for Chinese patent filing.

http://www.hk.super.net/~dingli/en-home.htm

This site contains introduction to Chinese IP laws and regulations.

6. Croatia

http://pubww/w.srce.hr/patent (in Croatian).

http://bagan.srce.hr/patent/english/index.html (in English).

Scant information about patents, publications, statistics, patent agents, fees, and links.

7. Denmark

http://www.dkpto.dk/

This site provides information in Danish.

http://www.ipb.dk

Internationalt Patent-Bureau is a leading Danish firm of patent and trademark attorneys. This site contains the Official English translation of the current Danish Patent Act in full text, "jobdanmark.dk" (Fyens Stifttidende et al v. Søndagsavisen) the first recorded Danish case between a trademark and a Danish domain name, dated February 25, 1997 (the full text is available in Danish), latest briefing on Danish trademark practice for clients and business associates dated February 1, 1997, McDonald's v. McAllan - Danish Supreme Court decision of December 4, 1996 in full text in English.

8. Europe

http://www.epo.co.at/epo

EPO gives a comprehensive view of the legal status of all published European and Euro-PCT applications, and links to other relevant sites.

Mountain Man Graphics

http://magna.com.au/%7eprfbrown/ip_links.html

The section of European IP Resources contain links to Moscow Patent Bureau, a Holland patent firm providing European Patent & TMK info, WIPO, and EPO.

http://www.imprimatur.alcs.co.uk/

European Commission funded project to look into the implications of and to develop systems to trade intellectual properties over networks. This will also encompass payment systems and methods of identifying the owners of intellectual properties and media.

http://www2.echo.lu/legal/en/ipr/ipr.html

Very comprehensive lists and links to IP info about EU. Especially the complete list of EU legislation on copyright.

9. Finland

http://www.prh.fi (in Finish).

http://www.prh.fi/engl.html (in English).

http://www.prh.fi/swe.html (in Swedish).

Its mission put into practice, its organization described in diagram, and contact information of divisions in chart with services hyperlinked.

10. Germany

http://www.deutsches-patentamt.de

This site provides information in German.

11. Greece

http://www.austria.eu.net/epo/patlib/country/greece/index.htm

Brief introductions. No summary or full-text act is mentioned. Links to EPO.

12. Hong Kong

http://pluto.houston.com.hk:80/hkgipd/

Information on copyright protection and trademark and patent registration in Hong Kong. Other sections include the topics of enforcement of IP rights, software piracy and recorded music. The most distinctive now in this site is "Hong Kong's New Intellectual Property Laws".

http://www.hk.super.net/~dingli/en-home.htm

This site contains introduction to Hong Kong IP laws and regulations.

13. Hungary

http://www.hpo.hu

In English. Information about patent, utility model, trade mark, industrial design, topography of semiconductor, and relevant full-text Hungarian laws. Also contains news, gazette-database, industrial property review, list of publications, patent library, trade mark and industrial design search, industrial property special library and Hungarian Inventors and inventions. Related web sites rather comprehensively link to foreign Industrial Property Offices and International Organizations, Commercial Hosts, Patent Database Providers, Other Important Database Providers, Other industrial property related companies, United States of America Patent Databases, Industrial property related books and periodicals, Patent information providers, and Hungarian Copyright Offices.

http://www.net.hu/artisjus/english.html

Contents include Introduction and brief report to copyright holders, Members of the governing board of ARTISJUS, Tasks in a broader context, International Relations, and The Oganizational Setup of ARTISJUS.

14. Japan

http://www.jpo-miti.go.jp/

JPO overview, statistics, how to obtain patent abstracts of Japan News on CD-ROM, and the summary of the ICIPC Final Report. Searching PAJ Test Version. Links to Japanese government, EPO and USPTO.

http://www.netaxs.com/~aengel/JapanAIDSPatents/list.htm

Text of Japanese AIDS Patents from January to April 1995.

http://www.rwcp.or.jp/patent rules.html

Self-explanatory summary of Japanese Patent Rules and details of the Research and Development Law.

http://www.ondatechno.com/techno/intl-dep/index.html

A specialist IP attorney firm. Summary of the new Japanese Trademark Law that came into effect on April 1, 1997. Services include patents, designs, and trademarks.

http://www.japio.or.jp/welcome.html

Introduction to JAPIO and its main services include Patent On-Line Information System (PATOLIS), Patent Abstracts of Japan (PAJ), and other products.

http://www.intlscience.com/

Japanese Patent, Utility Model & Trademark Information. The Oldest Private Archive of Japanese Patents on CDROM in the U.S. ConvertedKokai(tm) - Machine. Translations of Japanese Patent and Utility Model Applications. Links to Japanese Science & Technology Information.

15. Korea

http://www.ik.co.kr/kopatent

Information about Korean IP Act, patent attorneys, Korean Patent Office, development of business circles, IP system and other link. The IP Act includes full-text Korean laws of patent, utility, design, copyright and unfair competition.

16. Malaysia

http://kpdnhq.gov.my/ip/HomePage.html

IP In Malaysia, IP Information, Notice Board, What's New, Forms, and IP Around The World. Only brief introduction to patent, trade marks, industrial design and copyright. No full-text law available.

17. Monaco

Division de la Propriété Intellectuelle (Monaco)

http://www.epo.co.at/epo/patlib/country/monaco/index.htm

This site provide information in French.

18. New Zealand

http://www.moc.govt.nz//patent/

Provides information booklets on Patent Application and Grant, Trademark Regsitraiton, and Designs Registration in New Zealand, as well as information on New Zealand's Patent Attorney Examinations.

http://www.piperpat.co.nz/

An attorney firm in Auckland provides extensive info resources especially including the worldwide listing of patent attorneys and full-text NZ IP Act and Regulations.

19. Pakistan