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Conventions and Treaties

Since modern patent laws are intricately related to the laws of commerce and trade, many of the governing conventions and treaties contain detailed descriptions of trade-based restrictions and requirements. The major world body responsible for administering these trade-based treaties is the World Trade Organization (WTO). A list of WTO agreements are collected called the Final Act of the 1986-1994 Uruguay Round of trade negotiations
[http://www.wto.int/english/docs_e/legal_e/final_e.htm]
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The WTO was established on January 1, 1995 and is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 17 July 2007, 151 countries are members [http://www.wto.int/english/thewto_e/thewto_e.htm]. The current Director-General is Pascal Lamy, who oversees a staff of 625 and a budget of 182 million Swiss francs as of 2007 (about US$200 million [http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi (200712151315): swiss francs to US dollars]
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