An Overview of Iran's Comprehensive Intellectual Property Bill

A massive gap exists between minimum IP requirements of the WTO and the Iranian legal system. A huge step towards bridging this gap has been taken. The Iranian Islamic Assembly Parliament has been engaged with discussing the Comprehensive Protection of Artistic and Literary Property Bill that is likely to transform the state of intellectual property law within the legislative framework of the country. The Bill is an attempt to maximize conformity with international norms. This is done as an extension to Iran's accession to WIPO in 2002, and to facilitate Iran's accession to the WTO, which is already underway. This paper reviews and summarizes salient features of the Bill. The Bill goes much further than the only existing piece of legislation, which dates back 44 years. All in all, once legislated, it will be a progressive law that incorporates most provisions of international treaties regarding literary and artistic property, making accession to such treaties straightforward.