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The TRIPS Agreement plays a foundational role in shaping modern intellectual property law across the world. At its core, TRIPS establishes a baseline of protections that all WTO Member States must implement within their domestic legal systems. These are minimum standards, meaning that countries cannot offer weaker IP protection than what TRIPS mandates, but they are free to adopt stronger protections if they choose, provided this does not conflict with the obligations of the treaty. Under TRIPS, the minimum standards cover several key dimensions: the subject matter to be protected, the exact rights conferred to IP holders, permissible exceptions to these rights, and the minimum duration of protection in each category. For example, patents must be made available for any invention in all fields of technology and protected for at least 20 years from the filing date. Copyright protection must align with the substantive provisions of the Berne Convention, often translated in practice into terms of at least 50 years. Trademarks must be registrable and renewable, and rights holders must have effective remedies against infringement. Importantly, while TRIPS sets these floors, it also acknowledges that legal traditions and developmental priorities differ across countries. Thus, it allows flexibility in implementation-Member States determine how to embed these minimum standards in their laws, balancing public interest and economic welfare with the core obligations of the agreement. This balance ensures that the minimum standards are meaningful but not rigidly uniform, recognizing the diverse legal and social contexts of WTO Members.