Intellectual property rights
Intellectual property (IP) is a legal concept which refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
Common types of intellectual property rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets. Although many of the legal principles governing intellectual property rights have evolved over centuries, it was not until the 19th century that the term intellectual property began to be used, and not until the late 20th century that it became commonplace in the majority of the world
Definition of 'Intellectual Property'
A broad categorical description for the set of intangibles owned and legally protected by a company from outside use or implementation without consent. Intellectual property can consist of patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks, or simply ideas. The concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human intellect should be afforded the same protective rights that apply to physical property. Most developed economies have legal measures in place to protect both forms of property.
Companies are diligent when it comes to identifying and protecting intellectual property because it holds such high value in today's increasingly knowledge-based economy. Extracting value from intellectual property and preventing others from deriving value from it is an important responsibility for any company. Many forms of IP cannot be listed on the balance sheet as assets, but the value of such property tends to be reflected in the price of the stock. Management's ability to manage these effectively and turn a profit is just one example.
A right that is had by a person or by a company to have exclusive rights to use its own plans, ideas, or other intangible assets without the worry of competition, at least for a specific period of time. These rights can include copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. These rights may be enforced by a court via a lawsuit. The reasoning for intellectual property is to encourage innovation without the fear that a competitor will steal the idea and / or take the credit for it.
Intellectual property rights (IPRs), largely overlooked by the public in earlier periods, have caused mixed reactions over the past decades. At the domestic governmental level, patentable subject matter has been expanded greatly to include living organisms (microorganisms, plants, and animals), software, and business methods, while internationally, with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1994, some 140 countries made commitments to adopt minimum harmonized levels of IPR protection. In the case of developing countries, those minimum standards represent a substantial expansion of IPR over previous standards. The Bush administration, through then-Attorney General Ashcroft, has also been aggressive in protecting private IP rights. For example, the rights of music copyright owners have been upheld against file-sharing systems such as Napster. Medicare medicine benefits prohibit government groups from negotiating over prices, which enhances the partial monopoly rights granted under patents. Concurrent to this apparently pro-IPR governmental position, numerous individuals and groups have been raising serious issues about the implementation of those policies and their consequences (see citations below). At one level, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have been criticized repeatedly for inadequate examination procedures that lead to frivolous patents, which serve only to impede research, or alternatively overly broad ones (compared to the no obviousness contribution), which thwart subsequent inventive activity. Internationally, IPRs have been linked with blocking access by the poor to lifesaving medications most notably AIDS therapies. For systems that are intended to provide public benefits by granting private incentives for research and development (R&D) investments, these are indeed damning critiques.
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