Mumbai University Solved Question Papers
Intellectual Property and International Organisations and Agreements
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
LLM · Group 3 Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology
2015 Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
First published on munotes.in on 14 September 2026.
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Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by the University of Mumbai at the 2015 examination.
The law in these answers is stated as at September 2026, and six changes date most textbooks on this subject. The WTO's Appellate Body has been unable to hear appeals since 11 December 2019, so an appeal can be decided only where both parties have agreed to appeal arbitration, as members of the interim arrangement of 2020 have, and India has not joined it. The moratorium on non-violation complaints under TRIPS lapsed at the end of March 2026. Least developed countries need not apply most of TRIPS until 1 July 2034. WIPO administers twenty-eight treaties after two new treaties of 2024, and India joined the Strasbourg Agreement with effect from 7 July 2026. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished with effect from 4 April 2021. And the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Acts of 2023 and 2026 omitted sections 68 and 67 of the Copyright Act respectively.
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the 2015 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2015 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 10 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
QP Code 12198, printer's form BB-Con. 2308-15, the first paper on the scan, five questions 100 marks
Answer
For full marks, cover: four demands, and each has a precise answer in the CONVENTION ESTABLISHING THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION of 1967, so cite its articles. The AIM and OBJECTS are in the preamble and Article 3. The FUNCTIONS are the eight in Article 4. The ORGANS are the General Assembly (Article 6), the Conference (Article 7), the Coordination Committee (Article 8) and the International Bureau under the Director General (Article 9). MEMBERSHIP has two parts: WHO may join, under Article 5, and HOW, under Articles 14 and 15. Use the International Court of Justice's opinion on Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations for why eligibility conditions are exhaustive, and give India's own membership date.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is an intergovernmental organisation established by a Convention signed at Stockholm on 14 July 1967, which entered into force on 26 April 1970. It has its headquarters in Geneva, became a specialised agency of the United Nations on 17 December 1974, and has 194 member States. It replaced the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property and today administers twenty-eight treaties, including its own Convention. India became a member on 1 May 1975.
The aim, as the preamble declares it. The contracting parties set out four purposes: to contribute to better understanding and cooperation among States for their mutual benefit, on the basis of respect for their SOVEREIGNTY AND EQUALITY; to ENCOURAGE CREATIVE ACTIVITY by promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world; to MODERNISE AND RENDER MORE EFFICIENT the administration of the Unions established in the fields of industrial property and of literary and artistic works; and to do so while FULLY RESPECTING THE INDEPENDENCE of each Union.
The objects, Article 3. The Convention reduces those purposes to two operative objectives:
The development dimension. The agreement by which WIPO became a United Nations specialised agency added responsibility for promoting creative intellectual activity and facilitating the transfer of technology related to industrial property to developing countries, to accelerate their economic, social and cultural development. The Development Agenda of 2007 made that responsibility part of all of WIPO's work.
To attain its objectives, WIPO acts through its organs and subject to the competence of each Union. The eight functions fall naturally into five roles, legislator, administrator, service provider, assistant and informant, with a residual power to take any other appropriate action.
| Clause of Article 4 | Function | Role | How it is carried out today |
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Promote measures for efficient protection and harmonise national legislation | Legislator | Standing committees; treaties such as the Patent Law Treaty and Singapore Treaty |
| (iv) | Encourage the conclusion of international agreements | Legislator | Diplomatic conferences, such as those adopting the Marrakesh Treaty (2013) and two treaties in 2024 |
| Clause of Article 4 | Function | Role | How it is carried out today |
|---|---|---|---|
| (ii) | Perform the administrative tasks of the Paris, Berne and special Unions | Administrator | Preparing Union assemblies, budgets and depositary functions |
| (iii) | Assume or participate in administering other intellectual property agreements | Administrator | Joint administration of the Rome Convention with the ILO and UNESCO |
| (vii) | Maintain services facilitating international protection, including registration and publication | Service provider | PCT, Madrid, Hague and Lisbon systems; Arbitration and Mediation Center |
| (v) | Offer legal-technical assistance to States on request | Assistant | Help with laws and national strategies; WIPO Academy |
| Clause of Article 4 | Function | Role | How it is carried out today |
|---|---|---|---|
| (vi) | Assemble and disseminate information, carry out and publish studies | Informant | PATENTSCOPE, WIPO Lex, statistics, the Global Innovation Index |
| (viii) | Take all other appropriate action | Residual | Programmes on development, climate technology and frontier technologies |
The service function has come to dominate the others in practice. Through the PATENT COOPERATION TREATY a single international application can seek protection in 158 contracting States, and the MADRID system does the same for trademarks among 116 members covering 132 countries. The fees earned by those systems make WIPO largely self-financing. The dispute resolution service matters too: the domain name jurisprudence of Indian courts, which began in the High Courts in 1999 with Yahoo! Inc. v. Akash Arora and Rediff Communication Ltd. v. Cyberbooth and was confirmed by the Supreme Court in Satyam Infoway Ltd. v. Sifynet Solutions Pvt. Ltd., (2004) 6 SCC 145, holding that a domain name has the characteristics of a trademark, sits alongside the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy that WIPO's Center administers.
The General Assembly, Article 6. It consists of the States party to the Convention that are MEMBERS OF ANY OF THE UNIONS. Its functions include appointing the DIRECTOR GENERAL upon nomination by the Coordination Committee; reviewing and approving the reports and activities of the Director General and the Coordination Committee; adopting the biennial BUDGET OF EXPENSES COMMON TO THE UNIONS; approving the Director General's proposals on the administration of international agreements; adopting the FINANCIAL REGULATIONS; determining the working languages; inviting States to become parties; and deciding which non-member States and organisations may attend as observers. The Convention provides for ordinary sessions every second calendar year and for decisions by a two-thirds majority of votes cast, though in practice the Assembly meets every year with the other WIPO Assemblies and decides by consensus.
The Conference, Article 7. It consists of ALL STATES PARTY to the Convention, whether or not members of a Union. It discusses matters of general interest in the field of intellectual property and may adopt recommendations, adopts the biennial budget of the Conference, which funds legal-technical assistance, and adopts amendments to the Convention.
The Coordination Committee, Article 8. It consists of the States party to the Convention that are members of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE PARIS UNION or of the Berne Union, or both, with SWITZERLAND holding a seat as the host State. It gives advice to the organs of the Unions, the General Assembly, the Conference and the Director General on administrative, financial and other matters of common interest, prepares the draft agenda of the General Assembly, and NOMINATES a candidate for appointment as Director General.
The International Bureau and the Director General, Article 9. The International Bureau is the SECRETARIAT of the Organization. It is directed by the DIRECTOR GENERAL, who is appointed for a fixed term of not less than six years, may be reappointed, is the chief executive of the Organization and represents it, reports to the General Assembly, and appoints the staff. The Director General and staff are international officials who must not seek or receive instructions from any government, and States undertake to respect their international character. Daren Tang, Director General since 1 October 2020, was appointed by the General Assembly on 21 April 2026 to a second term running until 30 September 2032.
Bodies created in practice. The Assemblies of the individual Unions govern their own treaties, such as the PCT Union Assembly, which fixes PCT fees. The General Assembly has also created a PROGRAM AND BUDGET COMMITTEE and standing committees on patents, trademarks, copyright, development and traditional knowledge, which carry out most of the substantive work.
Article 5 opens membership to two classes of State.
Only STATES may be members; international organisations and non-governmental bodies may attend as observers but cannot join.
The conditions are to be applied as written. The International Court of Justice explained the principle for the United Nations in Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations (Article 4 of the Charter), Advisory Opinion of 28 May 1948. During the early Cold War some members made their vote for the admission of certain applicant States conditional on the simultaneous admission of others. The Court held that the conditions for admission stated in Article 4 of the Charter are EXHAUSTIVE, and that a member is not entitled to make its consent to admission depend on conditions not expressly provided there. By the same reasoning, a State that satisfies Article 5 of the WIPO Convention is eligible, and other political conditions cannot lawfully be added.
The instruments, Articles 14 and 20. Article 14 lists three ways in which an eligible State may become party to the Convention:
The Convention remained open for signature only until 13 January 1968 (Article 20(1)(b)), so the first two routes are closed and a State now joins by depositing an instrument of ACCESSION. Instruments are deposited with the DIRECTOR GENERAL, who notifies the other States. A State that is party to the Paris or Berne Convention may become party to the WIPO Convention only if, at the same time or earlier, it ratifies or accedes to the STOCKHOLM ACT of EITHER Convention, at least as regards its administrative provisions, which is what links the Unions to the Organization's governance.
Entry into force, Article 15. The Convention was to enter into force three months after ten States members of the Paris Union and seven States members of the Berne Union had become party to it, and it entered into force on 26 April 1970. For each later State it enters into force THREE MONTHS after the deposit of its instrument.
Conditions of membership. No RESERVATIONS to the Convention are permitted. Each member pays CONTRIBUTIONS according to the class it chooses under the single contribution system. And any member may DENOUNCE the Convention by notification to the Director General, taking effect six months later.
The present position. WIPO has 194 member States, most recently the Federated States of Micronesia, which joined on 19 June 2025. Its near-universal membership is itself an achievement of the open eligibility in Article 5.
The Convention gives WIPO a simple structure: broad objects, flexible functions, organs that give every member a voice through the Conference and the Union members a governing role through the General Assembly, and open membership. The weakness of the design is the absence of any enforcement function, which is why the enforcement of intellectual property standards moved to the WTO through TRIPS in 1995; its strength is that the same open design has let WIPO extend its work into development, traditional knowledge and new technologies without amending its constitution.
Conclusion. The AIM of WIPO, stated in the preamble of the Stockholm Convention of 14 July 1967, is cooperation among sovereign and equal States to encourage creative activity and modernise the administration of the Unions, and its OBJECTS under ARTICLE 3 are to PROMOTE THE PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD and to ensure ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION AMONG THE UNIONS. Its FUNCTIONS under ARTICLE 4 are harmonisation, administration of the Unions and of other agreements, promotion of new agreements, legal-technical assistance, information and studies, international registration services and other appropriate action. Its ORGANS are the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of Union members (Article 6), the CONFERENCE of all parties (Article 7), the COORDINATION COMMITTEE (Article 8) and the INTERNATIONAL BUREAU headed by the DIRECTOR GENERAL (Article 9). MEMBERSHIP is open under ARTICLE 5 to members of the Paris, Berne and related Unions and to States that are members of the United Nations, its specialised agencies or the IAEA, parties to the ICJ Statute or invited by the General Assembly, eligibility conditions that are exhaustive on the reasoning of Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations; it is acquired under ARTICLE 14, now that signature has closed, by an instrument of accession deposited with the Director General, and takes effect three months later under ARTICLE 15. India has been a member since 1 May 1975, one of 194.
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