Under the provisions of TRIPS, member countries of the World Trade Organization are required to grant patents for a minimum term of twenty years from their filing date. Argentina amended its law to comply with these provisions but the Patent Office held the view that this new term applied only to patents granted on applications filed on or after October 26, 1995, the date on which Argentina's new law came into effect. All other patents should be subject to the old law term of fifteen years from grant. TRIPS itself seems to indicate that the new term should apply to all patents that are in force on the date on which TRIPS becomes effective in a given country. In the case of Dr. Karl Thomae v. National Institute of Industrial Property, the Argentine Supreme Court has held that the new term should apply to all patents granted under the previous law that were still in force on January 1, 2000, this being the date by which Argentina was required to implement its obligations under TRIPS. Under this decision, patents, which were granted under the previous law for fifteen year terms on or after January 1, 1985 on applications filed on or after January 1,1980, are entitled to a term which is the longer of twenty years from filing and fifteen years from grant.