Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Iran in the Light of Related International Conventions

In recent years, the Iranian government has tried to develop its national IP law in order to engage with the international IP system, prepare for membership of the WTO and fulfil its obligations under the TRIPs Agreement. This paper describes in detail how enforcement of intellectual property rights should be handled, including rules for obtaining evidence, provisional measures, injunctions, damages and other penalties in international and national level of Iran. It covers the need to have a strong judicial system for dealing with both civil and criminal offenses. Government should make sure that intellectual property rights owners can receive the assistance of customs authorities to prevent imports of counterfeit and pirated goods. Further, Iran sees technology transfer as part of the arrangement in which they have agreed to protect intellectual property rights. The intellectual property rights of Iran include a number of provisions on this. For example, it requires government to provide incentives for their companies to transfer technology to Iran. This paper deals with international and domestic procedures and remedies for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights of Iran contain provisions on civil and administrative procedures and remedies, provisional measures, special requirements related to border measures and criminal procedures, which specify, in a certain amount of detail, the procedures and remedies that must be available so that right holders can effectively enforce their rights.