IP Provisions of the UK's Free Trade Agreement with India

Science City, Kolkata

Author: Biswarup Ganguly Licence CC BY-SA 3.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

By a press release dated 6 May 2025, the Department for Business and Trade announced that the United Kingdom had concluded a trade deal with India.  According to Dominic Webb's UK India Free Trade Agreement, a research briefing for the House of Commons Library dated 9 May 2025, no details are available, but the deal seems to consist of a free trade agreement and a double contributions convention.  The research paper refers to UK and India clinch trade deal after three years of talks in Politico, which states that negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty are continuing.

The Free Trade Agreement

The Department for Business and Trade published a chapter summary on the issues that had been agreed in its policy paper, UK-India trade deal: conclusion summary, on 15 April 2025.  Work is continuing on the legal text and the resolution of a few remaining issues. Once the text has been finalized, it will be checked by both sides' lawyers.  Domestic approval will then be sought in each country.  Once that has been obtained, the agreement can be signed, after which it will enter into force.

The agreement will cover anti-corruption, the temporary movement of natural persons, competition and consumer protection, customs and trade facilitation, trade and development cooperation, digital trade, the environment, financial services, goods market access, good regulatory practice, government procurement, innovation, intellectual property, labour, professional business services, rules of origin, remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary, small and medium enterprises, state owned enterprises, subsidies, technical barriers to trade, telecommunications, trade and gender equality and trade in services.  

Intellectual Property

According to para 4.15 of the policy paper, the IP chapter will support the British and Indian economies "through effective and balanced protection of IP rights.  It will cover copyright and related rights, designs, trade marks, geographical indications, patents, and trade secrets, as well as the enforcement of IP rights, and ongoing cooperation in relation to IP matters.  The chapter will secure improvements to patent procedures in India to reduce the administrative burden, speed up processes, and lock in commitments that provide for transparency and legal certainty in the patent system.  India will commit to engaging on aspects of copyright and related rights, including public performances, artists' resale rights and the copyright terms of protection.  UK food and other suppliers will be able to seek protection for all geographical indications and not just wines and spirits in India. Nothing in the outline agreement will commit the UK to domestic legislative change, undermine the UK’s IP system or its international positions on IP.  There is likely to be a degree of overlap between IP and some of the other agreed issues, such as competition and consumer protection, digital trade, financial services, innovation, small and medium enterprises, technical barriers to trade and telecommunications. 

Existing IP Protection in India

According to the WIPO, India ranked 39 among the 133 countries in the global innovation index in 2024.  The main IP statutes appear to be The Copyright Act, 1957, The Designs Act, 2000, The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, The Patents Act, 1970, The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 and The Trade Marks Act, 1999,  India is party to the main intellectual property treaties including Paris, Berne and Rome Conventions, the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Madrid Protocol (see WIPO-Administered Treaties, Contracting Parties/Signatories India).

Comment

This is the UK's 4th new trade agreement since it left the European Union and potentially the most important.   I shall return to the topic as more information becomes available.  Anyone wishing to discuss this topic may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during normal UK business hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.

Extension of NZ Copyright Term

 

Jane Lambert

New Zealand is a country of just over 5.1 million people on the other side of the world.  It was, however,  the third-largest music streaming market for UK artists in 2020 according to the Department for International Trade (see DIT News Story UK music execs hail benefits of UK-New Zealand trade deal  16 April 2022). It adds: "the enhanced protections secured in this forward-looking trade agreement will strengthen this creative cultural relationship." 

The enhanced protection to which the news story refers is art 17.48 (1) of the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement which provides:

"Each Party shall provide that the rights of an author of a work within the meaning of Article 2 of the Berne Convention shall run for the life of the author and for 70 years after the author’s death."

As s.12 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 already complies with art 2 of Berne, art 17.48 (1) of the FTA requires the amendment of s.22 of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 to extend the duration of copyright protection in New Zealand for another 20 years.

The DIT considers this extension of sufficient importance to place it on the front page of its website.  It quotes Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI, BRIT Awards and Mercury Prize as follows:

"We are grateful to the Government for their dedication to promoting our world-leading IP standards and hope that this will continue to be a priority in further negotiations taking place around the world.”  

The news story is not just about the extension of the duration of copyright in New Zealand.  It also features a business that makes guitars. 

Readers who want to know more about the IP provisions of the free trade agreement may refer to my article The New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: IP Provisions of 24 Oct 2021 in which I discussed the IP provisions of what was then the proposed agreement.  In the agreed treaty the IP provisions are to be found in section 17.  I have indexed my articles on New Zealand here.

 Anyone requiring further information about copyright protection outside the UK should call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

The New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: IP Provisions

Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech Public Domain Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

According to the Department for International Trade, the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and the United Kingdom agreed in principle the terms of a  free trade agreement on 20 Oct 2021 (see UK agrees historic trade deal with New Zealand  DfIT press release 20 Oct 2021).  Copies of those terms have been posted to the British and New Zealand government websites).

Overview

The agreement in principle contains a short instruction and the following 32 sections:

1. National treatment and market access for goods
2. Rules of origin
3. Customs procedures and trade facilitation
4. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS)
5. Animal welfare
6. Technical barriers to trade (TBT)
7. Trade remedies
8. Cross-border trade in services
9. Domestic regulation
10. Financial services
11. Telecommunications
12. Temporary entry of business persons
13. Investment
14. Digital trade
15. Government procurement
16. Intellectual property
17. Competition
18. Consumer protection
19. State-owned enterprises and designated monopolies (SOEs)
20. Good regulatory practice (GRP) and regulatory cooperation
21. Labour
22. Environment
23. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
24. Trade and gender equality
25. Indigenous trade
26. Trade and development
27. Anti-corruption
28. Transparency
29. Initial provisions and general definitions, final provisions
30. General exceptions and general provisions
31. Dispute settlement
32. Additional outcomes.

The introduction makes clear that the agreement in principle does not create any legally binding obligations.  Work on a legal text which will be binding if it is accepted by the two governments is said to be substantially completed.  In accordance with the Change of Focus announced on 23 Sept 2021, this article will focus on the intellectual property provisions of the agreement in principle.

Intellectual Property

Section 16 of the agreement in principle promises provisions on copyright and related rights, design protection, trade marks, geographical indications (GIs), trade secrets, enforcement, patents and test data but nothing that will affect the price of medicines for New Zealand or the National Health Service. 

Copyright  

In respect of copyright, the New Zealand government has agreed to extend the term of copyright for authors of literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works by 20 years within 15 years of entry into force of the agreement.  At present, s.22 (1) of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 provides a term of the life of the author plus 50 years.  The term of copyright for computer-generated works and works of unknown authors will be increased from 50 years to 70.  There are likely to be similar extensions to copyright in sound recordings and films under s.23 (1) and communication works under s.24 (1).

The British and New Zealand governments have agreed to adopt (in the case of New Zealand) or maintain (in the case of the UK) artists' resale rights schemes on a reciprocal basis. For those who are not familiar with artists' resale rights or droit de suite, I covered the introduction of the British scheme in Copyright: Resale Right Directive to be implemented in New Year on 17 Dec 2005 NIPC Law, Copyright: Resale Rights Directive Implementation on 21 Dec 2021 NIPC Law and Copyright: Happy New Year for Artists on 1 Jan 2006 in NIPC Law.  Further information on the right can be found in this guidance from the Intellectual Property Office. New Zealand will introduce a resale rights scheme within 2 years of the entry into force of the agreement.  

Rights in Performances

The New Zealand government will extend the duration of rights in relation to performances mentioned in s.193 of the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 from 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which a performance takes place to 70 years within 15 years of the coming into force of the agreement.

Both governments have agreed to adopt or maintain a public performance right for performers to cover communication to the public of phonograms,

Registered Designs

The free trade agreement will require the New Zealand government to make all reasonable efforts to join the Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs. This agreement facilitates the registration of industrial designs in much the same way as the Patent Cooperation Treaty facilitates applications for patents and the Madrid Protocol facilitates the registration of trade marks.  The United Kingdom has been a member since 13 June 2018.

GI

The governments have agreed to review the free trade agreement to ensure that the geographical indications of British agricultural produce and foodstuffs are adequately protected in New Zealand and those of New Zealand agricultural produce and foodstuffs in the UK in the following circumstances.  The first of those is if New Zealand introduces a bespoke scheme for agricultural products or foodstuffs, or substantively amends its domestic registration system.  At present, New Zealand wines and spirits may be registered under the Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) Registration Act 2006. The other circumstance is if no changes are made to New Zealand's GI laws within 2 years of the entry into force of the free trade agreement.

Traditional Knowledge

The two governments will work together on the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on traditional knowledge.  The free trade agreement will contain provisions on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression,  For example, the agreement will provide for consideration of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources in patent examinations.   This will take account of the contribution of the Maori community to New Zealand (see Maori IP on the IP Office of New Zealand's website).

Other Provisions

There are references to wine labelling, medicines and medical devices that may require amendment of existing British and New Zealand IP laws in the technical barriers to trade section.   Similarly in the sections on telecommunications, digital trade, competition and SME.   I will explore those issues more fully when a draft text of the agreement is published.   One possible lacuna in the treaty will be the exclusion of a procedure for resolving disputes between investors and host governments.

Further Information

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404n 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message at any time through my contact form.