RECIPROCITY
reciprocity (res-<<schwa>>-pros-i-tee).1. Mutual or bilateral action <the Arthurs stopped
receiving social invitations from friends because of their lack of reciprocity>.2. The mutual
concession of advantages or privileges for purposes of commercial or diplomatic relations <Texas
and Louisiana grant reciprocity to each other’s citizens in qualifying for in-state tuition rates>. —
Also termed mutuality of benefits; quid pro quo; equivalence of advantages. [Cases: Colleges and
Universities 9.20(2). C.J.S. Colleges and Universities § 32.] 3.Intellectual property. The
recognition by one country of a foreign national’s intellectual-property rights only if and only to
the extent that the other nation would recognize those same rights for the first country’s citizens. •
Reciprocity is the most restrictive approach to international intellectual-property-law rights. Cf.
NATIONAL TREATMENT ; UNIVERSALITY.
“It has become common when introducing new categories of rights for them to be granted on
the basis of reciprocity. The advantages of reciprocity are twofold. First, reciprocity benefits rights
owners by providing incentives for non-conforming countries to change their laws. Secondly, it
saves users in one country (A) from paying royalties for foreign authors from countries that do not
pay royalties to the authors of country A.” Lionel Bently & Brad Sherman, Intellectual Property
Law 101 (2001). [Blacks Law 8th]