Questions On Intellectual Property Rights

Protection of intellectual property are investments based on acquired knowledge, thought and effort by one or multiple individuals on behalf of themselves, the business they work for when the property is created, and a financial investment. Each of these – acquired knowledge, thought, physical effort, financial investment – have a value that can be attached as it relates the usefulness or importance of the resulting product. That value will have a level of importance to the individual(s) creating the product and if applicable, the investor providing the funds in support of the creation.

An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Intellectual Property Author(s): Stanley M. Besen and Leo J. Raskind Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 3-27 Published by: American Economic Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1942699 . Accessed: 24/11/2011 08:39

An effective system of intellectual property is important in facilitating innovation as well as economic growth within a country and across all its borders (Davidson, Monoti, Wiseman, 2012). The current global economy is concentrating more in the invention of ideas that are original, other than in manufacturing of machines. To enhance and protect these ideas, there ought to be effective intellectual property laws. The government of Australia has prioritized the protection of original ideas from individuals through copyright, patent, and trademarks among other intelligent property laws, which give the inventor a temporary period to enjoy the financial benefits of his or her original idea. The major purposes of intellectual property laws can be contested; therefore, they create areas of interest for

Intellectual property (IP) refers to the creation of something original and then is protected via copyrights, patents or trademarks. If the usage of these creations is breached, for example, usage without consent from the original

The World Intellectual Property Organization (n.d.) helps one understand the importance of protecting intellectual property. They have spelled out several reasons of this importance including inventing new works in technology and culture, which allows progress to be made that, can be utilized worldwide. In addition, the legal protection of intellectual property encourages the commitment of additional resources for further modernization. Finally, promoting and protecting intellectual property encourages economic growth. It creates new jobs and industries. Protecting intellectual property also enhances the quality and

Ideas and knowledge are public goods, non- rival and non- excludable. In this sense everyone has the right to imitate it or acquire it. Because the generation of technology is involved with costs, not protecting the interests of innovators can result in a lack of investment in such areas and can result in a market failure. A well-structured IPR regime generates a temporary monopoly to innovators and enables them to achieve rents in order to have a return on their investments. ( Dhar and Joseph, 2012), Hence, countries that lack an IPR regime may suffer from low FDIs, due to the fact that foreign

American businesses are losing up to an estimated $60 billion each year in the global market from intellectual property violations. The problem continues to grow as more American companies invest overseas, and more products consist of intangible or intellectual property. American companies face more than just economic challenges: if losses of intellectual property rights continue to go unchecked, businesses may choose not to make foreign investments, customers may be injured, and innovation discouraged.

Advise the client as to all intellectual property issues it ought to consider prior to proceeding with geological expansion and franchising.

One of the most controversial provisions of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) patent regime is the compulsory product patent protection for pharmaceutical inventions. In order to comply with the TRIPS obligation, India introduced product patent protection from 1 January 2005. In doing so, India in a way reinstated the patent regime, which is believed to favour the pharmaceutical Multinational Corporations (MNCs). While carrying out the amendment, Indian policy makers were confronted with two major concerns, viz. the future of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and access to affordable medicines within the country and other developing countries. Thus the “major concern was how the adoption of intellectual property regimes would affect their efforts to improve public health, and economic and technological development more generally, particularly if the effect of introducing patent protection was to increase the price and decrease the choice of sources of pharmaceuticals”.

Intellectual property rights will remain a part of international trade agreements in the future, but the global activity will likely be characterized by varying standards and improved enforcement, reflecting evolution in social, cultural and political attitudes, and a deeper understanding of the relationships among innovation, creation and the more efficient distribution of intellectual property. Increased cooperation might occur at the governance level. Many of the fast and unprecedented changes in intellectual property law and policy over the past two decades are due to their intersection with international trade and the numerous international trade agreements negotiated and brought into force

The benefits of WTO membership are more often than not authored by the developed nations, in favor of the developed nations. PHD Stephan Hall gives a great example of how issues that interest the wealthier nations of the world seem to dominate the WTO agenda year after year. Hall states, "While liberalization of trade in manufactured goods has seen rapid progress, industrialized countries have resisted demands to open markets for the agricultural goods that many developing countries export" (Hall, 2004) Hall continues, "the industrialized countries have pushed for provisions ensuring the protection of intellectual property. While the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is designed to spur growth by protecting the revenues of innovators, it limits in practice the transfer of technology to developing countries. This has been of particular concern in the area of pharmaceuticals (Hall, 2004).

Regarding regulatory concerns for instance, the fundamental self-reproducing nature of transgenic substances, particularly seeds, makes it rather difficult for traditional intellectual property rights to efficiently protect the proprietary interests of inventors and investors within the agricultural biotechnology space. Thus, the need for suitable protection and appropriation systems for new technologies, remains a principal challenge to sustaining rapid advances in biotechnology (Oguamanam, 2005).

International protection of the vital interests of the countries involved in the development of enterprises, and the relationship between national intellectual property rights. In the late 1980s, facing recession, the United States dropped its international competitiveness because its intellectual property rights could not be protected in the world, that its biggest competition in the economic resources and with the advantage of technology and invention, effective protection of intellectual property rights is critical to the US economy overseas.

As the era of technology and new innovations allows people to share ideas at a moments notice the need for laws to protect people’s ideas and inventions need to keep up. These laws are called intellectual property rights (IPR) and can include patents, copyrights, trademarks, process design and in some case trade secrets which differ from other types of IPR. This means that a company could create a monopoly on an idea that would give them a right to punish people by law if they copied that idea. For most of these forms of IP such as a patent and trademark require the idea holder to submit their process for creating the idea and documentation proving ones claim, however for copyright according to federal law any original work that is publically produced protects the rights of the creator. This is good for most people because it ensures their work can not be copied but some people who share information with the public actually want it to be free for all to know and use it without someone being able to profit off of it.

India must seriously examine its Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) position and see how best TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) can be interpreted, as IPR laws are national laws. India should cull the best points from various laws to suit her future needs.