For the purposes of the national treatment and most-favoured-nation obligations in Articles 3 and 4 of…

Footnote 3 gives "protection" a wide meaning: it includes matters affecting "the availability, acquisition, scope, maintenance and enforcement of intellectual property rights" as well as matters affecting their use "specifically addressed in this Agreement". So discriminatory filing rules, renewal conditions or enforcement procedures can breach Articles 3 and 4, not merely differences in the content of the rights. Use matters that TRIPS does not specifically address fall outside the footnote.