• The principle of national treatment underlay the first international intellectual-property treaties in the 19th century, the Paris and Berne Conventions, and is also embodied in the TRIPs Agreement. Cf. RECIPROCITY(3); UNIVERSALITY.
national treatment
Intellectual property. The policy or practice of a country that accords the citizens of other countries the same intellectual-property protection as it gives its own citizens, with no formal treaty of reciprocity required.