Trademark protection is established for seven years and is indefinitely renewable as long as the trademark is in use. TRIPs requires contracting states to expedite administrative procedures for the granting of patents as much as possible to avoid a de facto reduction in the effective life of a patent. To the extent that this provision proves effective, it will be a boon for U.S. businesses, which have continually been frustrated by the long backlogs in granting intellectual property rights in developing countries. Scope of Intellectual Property Rights . Throughout the developing world, the list of products declared ineligible for intellectual property protection is long, and it includes software, pharmaceuticals, and the products of biotechnology.
TRIPs expands the existing scope of protection for trade secrets, computer programs, and databases.
In the case of pharmaceuticals, although TRIPs extends the scope of what is patentable, it excludes natural or artificially produced biological material, animals, and plant varieties. The exclusions clearly represent a blow to the U.S. biotechnology industry, in which the United States has a distinct comparative advantage. Although protection for information-intensive products is not airtight, TRIPs increased the previous level of protec tion. International disputes over licensing are common. TRIPs has failed to resolve this conflict, because it allows nations to grant compulsory licenses for adequate remuneration after considering each case on its individual merits and after attempting to negotiate reasonable commercial terms with the holder of the intellectual property right.