The treaties are considered the main accords regarding international protection of intellectual property. The Paris convention lays down the basic principles governing protection of patents, trademarks and industrial designs.

The patent-cooperation treaty makes it possible to fill out a single application for a patent that will be valid in several countries, reducing costs and paperwork.

The decision was welcomed by patent lawyers, India's trading partners and the UN alike yesterday. The signing is particularly significant coming amid the increasingly vocal debate over biopiracy, what many developing nations and indigenous groups consider as theft of their innovations by companies that use patent laws to gainexclusive rights over their resources.

New Delhi has claimed biopiracy in a case involving a patent granted to a US company for rice similar to India's famous Basmati grain.

Patents allow inventors to exclude all others from making, using or selling their invention for a specified period of time. Inventors can get a patent if they can prove that their product is useful, new and isn't obvious.

India had for years resisted the growing trend of worldwide patent protection that came along with the global economy, where a bottle of Aspirin in a New Delhi drug store was as likely to be imported as it was to be locally made.

New Delhi had a shortened patent-exclusivity period, meaning, local companies could sell generic drugs at an earlier date than what was specified in the patent of the name-brand drug. While enabling Indians to buy cheaper drugs, the policy drove away foreign investment.

New Delhi apparently began to change its view towards the need for patent protection last year, when it successfullyoverturned a patent obtained by American scientists for using turmeric as a wound healer.

Indian scientists, armed with ancient medicinal texts, argued to the US patent and trademark office that the patent didn't meet the "novelty" requirement because Indians had long used turmeric to heal wounds.

New Delhi has also been faced with another patent issue that surfaced earlier this year. An Texas-based company, Ticetec Inc, received a patent to produce and market a long-grain rice called Texmati, which is similar to Basmati, an aromatic rice grown in India and Pakistan.

Claiming a case of biopiracy, India has argued that the exclusive rights that the patent confers would hurt vital local rice exports. There are now 151 countries which adhere to the Paris convention and 98 countries which have signed the patent-cooperation treaty.