Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) has said the country should join the global registration system of the Intellectual Property Right (IPR).
It is important to ensure the global IPR registration of local products, it said in an advocacy paper titled ‘Bangladesh and Global Registration of IPR’ to draw policy markers’ attention on the issue.
The BEI suggested signing up to three international IPR treaties: Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Madrid Agreement on Trade Marks (Madrid System) and the Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs (Hague System).
“Bangladesh is not yet a party to any of the three major Global IPR Protection Systems which will enable global IPR registration of Bangladeshi products and substantially enhance its value added global trade,” it said.
The think tank argued that it is imperative for Bangladesh to become a party these three systems without undertaking any additional international obligations other than whatever it has already undertaken and as adopted in its own domestic regulations.
In the advocacy paper, jointly prepared by Mr Manzur Ahmed and Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf, it also mentioned that neither PCT nor the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) grants any patent.
“The granting of patent or rejection of patent application is the sole remit of each national patent office of the contracting states.”
By joining these treaties, Bangladesh will be able to file a single application for patent or trademarks in the other such contracting countries.