INTRODUCTION
Intellectual Property Right is a territorial right which is granted to people within the territory of that country. Intellectual Property is an intangible property created by application of human intellect including Patent, Copyright, Geographical Indication, Trademark etc. It is an exclusive right of the owner and it protects expression of ideas in a tangible form but not ideas itself. Thus, these rights protect innovative technology from misconduct of inventions. There are various legal provisions and regulatory frameworks for the protection of the Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual Property includes innovation in the fields of research, scientific inventions, artistic, literary, dramatic, technical, and creative etc. fields by application of human mind and intellect.
WHAT IS INNOVATION?
Innovation is the implantation of new ideas or products into the market of already existing creations. Innovation is the application of an invention that is useful in society. It can also be referred to as the discovery of a new thing from an invention.
BENEFITS
Intellectual Property Rights benefits inventors, creators, companies, employees in the modern era. Various advantages of Intellectual Property Rights are:
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Business Growth: Intellectual Property Rights promotes business and economic growth in the export market. By Industrial design and logos, the inventor sells products and services in the foreign countries with the help of franchise arrangements abroad.
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Revenue in business: In business, for Intellectual Property Rights revenue is generated, and the holder of the Intellectual Property Right gets return on the investment. Thus, the owner of Intellectual Property Right earns benefit from this right through licensing in a direct or indirect way.
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Increases productivity in agriculture: Through Intellectual Property Rights, productivity in agriculture is increased by a lot of variations of products.
DISADVANTAGES
There are certain disadvantages of Intellectual Property Rights. These are:
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Creation of monopolies in business: It creates monopoly in business. It increases the cost for developments. There are also some extra costs for complex products and processes.
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Unauthorized use: Though Intellectual Property Rights are protected still sometime it becomes harder to stop pirating. In Intellectual Property Rights Law, there are certain legal provisions of penalties for infringement of those rights.
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Time and money consuming: The process of the registration of Intellectual Property Rights is long and is highly complicated. There are so many steps and there can be a rejection too. The fee for the registration is very high. This is a time-consuming and cost-ineffective process.
Patents
Indian Patents Act, 1970 governs Patents in innovation and punishment for infringement of patent also. According to Section 2(n) of The Patents Act, 1970; "Patent" means a patent for any invention granted under this Act. The invention must be novel, original, useful and non-obvious, capable of industrial applications. There are several features of a patent for which a patent is for innovation. These are:
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Exclusive Right: With a granted patent, the patentee gets an exclusive right to exclude people from selling, using, or importing the patented product for some time. The duration of a patent is 20 years. This exclusiveness safeguards the invention and offers profits to the inventors.
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Technological Development: Patented inventions are used for technological developments of products. Inventors put their effort to make a profit from their invention. For this, patents prove to be useful for innovation.
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Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: Except the patentee others can't make, use, sell the patented invention for a reasonable period of time. This provision protects intellectual property rights in a greater extent.
Trademark
Trademark is an Intellectual Property Right by which a product can be distinguished from other products. Trademarks can be signs like symbols, designs, words for protection of a logo, company name, image etc. The Trademarks Act,1999 deals with use and protection of trademarks and penalties of false trademarks. Certain legal provisions and regulatory frameworks are used to protect innovation and creativity and also ensure fair competition in the market.
Obstacles
Intellectual Property rights hinder innovations in so many ways. These are:
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Through monopolies and anti-competitive agreements in business: Intellectual Property Rights hindered innovation by the creation of monopolies and anti-competitive agreements in business that prevents competition and new inventions.
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Profits of previous inventions: Patented, Copyright from earlier inventions enable the inventors to earn profit for themselves. Inventing new things makes the individuals reluctant due to it.
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Poor Quality and slow invention: After granting Intellectual Property Right, the quality of invention decreases in scientific experiments and gives out as slow. This is normally observed in logical innovation procedures.
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Financial disadvantage of technological innovators of Copyright: The owner of copyright receives new technological developments having control and use on that, but after the granting over, the control and use become the hindrance in the way of better technological invention of copyright.
Conclusion
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and innovations are interconnected matters of a new invention. Protection of intellectual property rights promotes not only scientific research and experiments but only ensures business and economic growth. In business, the creation of monopolies should be restricted to enlarge the scope of innovation. Because of strict rules to access goods and services, patents make it a hindrance to acquire adequate medications, and treatment becomes costly for many people in developing countries. It is very evident that because of some limited legal provisions of the Copyright Law, it becomes difficult for the teachers and students to access some of the educational resources that would have otherwise helped to prevent the lack of learning opportunities. Those laws and regulations need a change. Copyright laws cannot restrict freedom of speech and expression, which is one of the fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution. The Intellectual Property Rights Laws and Regulations should be well accompanied by proper access, innovation, and moral discretion.
References
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Bently L, Sherman B. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2001. Intellectual property law.
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Lexchin J. Intellectual property rights and the Canadian pharmaceutical marketplace: Where do we go from here? Int J Health Serv. 2005;35:237–56.
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Mrudula BS, Durgadevi NK, Madhavi BR, Tejeswi B, Durga PV. Intellectual property rights pinpoint at IPR spotlights coveted R and D. Drug Inv Today. 2009;2:197–201.
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Glasgow LJ. Stretching the limits of intellectual property rights: Has the pharmaceutical industry gone too far? IDEA J Law Technol. 2001;41:227–58.