•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This essay will briefly address the issue of time in some fundamental international conventions on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). Primarily, this article concentrates on four current international conventions and discusses the importance and international relevance of the time factor in each convention. The first part introduces two characteristic ideas of time inherited from philosophical thought. It also describes how “linearity,” one characteristic time can assume, might be a way to think of the legal system. This article does not delve into philosophical aspects of this issue; they are merely a cue to analyze the issue of time in the context of intellectual property. The second part details some of the more important international conventions on IPRs regarding the relevant time-related aspects. Other aspects and details of these conventions are left to the existing literature. The third, and final, section asks if time, as implemented in the IPR conventions, might be construed as circular rather than as a unidirectional straight line. It suggests that time, in any form carved out by these conventions, is a fundamental part of IPRs and not merely an ancillary element. All IPRs are deeply embedded in the time factor. Because an inventor’s rights and the concept of time are so interrelated, underestimating time’s role may results in the abridgement of the inventor’s rights.

Download

Share

COinS