It is surprising for some to see that Myanmar still does not have a coherent set of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws as it is a founding member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) member since 2001.

Myanmar agreed to draft its IPR legal framework in accordance with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). Adoption would provide, for the first time, comprehensive protection for copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial designs and other intellectual property under the WTO. Myanmar is expected to enact the required IPR protection by the summer of 2014.