IP RIGHTS Flashcards
what is the functions of IP Rights
Legal rights: IP broadly refers to legal rights resulting from intellectual activity in industrial, scientific, literary, and artistic fields.
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Safeguarding creators: IP law protects creators and producers of intellectual goods and services by granting them time-limited rights to control the use of their creations. These rights do not apply to the physical object itself but to the intellectual creation.
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Two branches: Intellectual property is traditionally divided into industrial property and copyright.
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Industrial property: This includes inventions, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, commercial names, and protection against unfair competition. Inventions are new solutions to technical problems, while industrial designs are aesthetic creations that determine the appearance of industrial products.
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Copyright: Copyright covers literary, artistic, and scientific works, as well as related rights like performances of artists, phonograms, and broadcasts
IP Opportunities for Companies
Multiple IP Rights: Companies can utilize various forms of IP, such as patents, trademarks, and designs, creating multiple opportunities for protection and commercialization.
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Defensive strategies: Companies can use IP to prevent others from exploiting their inventions or creations.
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Offensive strategies: IP can be used to establish a market position, penetrate new markets, and generate revenue through licensing. For example, patent rights encourage investment in research and development and the industrial application of inventions.
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Monopolies: Patents provide a right to exclude others from commercially exploiting an invention for a limited period, in return for the disclosure of the invention. This allows the patent owner to benefit from their intellectual effort and work.
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Trademarks: A well-selected trademark is an asset of substantial economic importance to a company, enabling it to establish a market position and goodwill based on the trademark.
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Industrial Designs: Protecting industrial designs stimulates creative activity by providing recognition and material benefits for creators.
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Competitive edge: Companies can use IP to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace
Importance of IP Rights
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Moral and economic rights: IP laws give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators.
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Promoting creativity: Governments protect IP to promote creativity, the dissemination of its results, and to encourage fair trading, which contributes to economic and social development.
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Technological and economic development: Industrial property is used as a tool for technological and economic development.
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Incentives: IP protection provides incentives for the creation and dissemination of new intellectual creations, including tradition-based creations.
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Wealth creation: IP can help companies to fulfill their potential as a powerful force behind wealth creation
Territorial Nature of IP Rights
Jurisdictional limits: Intellectual property rights are limited territorially and can only be exercised within the jurisdiction of the country or countries where they are granted.
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International cooperation: Multilateral treaties establish “Unions” of countries that agree to grant the same protection to nationals of other Union countries.
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Harmonization: There is a growing similarity in the approach and procedures governing intellectual property matters in various countries, making it sensible to simplify practice through international standardization and mutual recognition
New Borders for Patents and IP Rights
Internet challenges: The Internet presents challenges to IP rights due to the ease of digital copying and transmission.
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Commercial effect: Use of IP on the Internet is considered to occur in a country when it has a “commercial effect” in that country.
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Factors for determination: Factors such as delivery of goods or services, language, website interactivity, and registration of the website can help determine whether IP has been used in a specific country.
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Conflicting rights: Different owners can hold similar IP rights in different territories, leading to conflicts when those rights are used on the Internet.
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Domain name disputes: WIPO provides alternative dispute resolution for domain name misuse on the Internet
Patenting and Licensing Abroad
International patent system: The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) establishes an international system for filing, searching, and examining patent applications, simplifying the process of obtaining patents in multiple countries.
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PCT benefits: The PCT assists applicants by providing more time to decide on foreign countries for protection, and allows them to file one application with effect in all designated states.
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Technology transfer: The PCT can facilitate technology transfer and licensing agreements.
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Licensing A license provides authorization for the licensee to use the IP, and can be exclusive, sole or non exclusive
Knowledge Management and Cross-Fertilization of IPRs
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Innovation centers: Innovation centers can assist individual inventors, SMEs, and other creators in bringing their innovative projects to completion. These centers offer services such as information, evaluation, business assistance, prototyping, and brokering.
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Technology transfer: Licensing and cross-licensing agreements enable companies to share and utilize each other’s technology advances.
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Cross-licensing: Parties may decide to exchange information on technological advances and each be free to use the advances of the other, sometimes with a share in remuneration if the technology is licensed to a third party.
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Awareness: Promoting awareness of IP among owners, users, governments, and the private sector is essential for effective use of the IP system.
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Training: Training of personnel involved with IP matters can also help with knowledge management
What are the key aspects of Regional and International Patent Systems?
Countries have two main options:
Limited direct access.
Access to the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) system, which facilitates international patent applications.
These are international granting routes, but:
The patent’s life cycle (licensing, litigation, etc.) is subject to national laws.
Key takeaway: The PCT simplifies applications but does not override the authority of national legal systems.
What are the challenges associated with the nature and economics of information as a public good?
Key Qualities of Information Goods:
Non-rivalrous: Sharing information doesn’t reduce its availability to others (e.g., sharing an idea or lighting another candle).
Non-excludable: It is hard to restrict access to information (e.g., ideas cannot be fenced off like physical property).
Arrow’s Information Paradox and Free-Rider Problem:
These qualities create a free-rider problem, where individuals benefit from information without contributing to its creation.
This discourages production, leading to underproduction or complete lack of production of information.
Risk of disclosure or others discovering the information also reduces incentives to create it.
possible solution to free rider problem
gvt intervention to give research grants encourage people to produce more information. and another was the private property right (IP)
What are the drawbacks of the patent system, particularly concerning exclusivity?
Reduced output: Fewer goods produced due to the inventor controlling production.
High prices: Patent holder can set prices above competitive levels.
Limited access: Some consumers can’t afford the product at higher prices, leading to reduced market access.
What is “deadweight loss” in the context of patents, and how does it relate to market inefficiency?
Deadweight loss: The loss of potential benefits in the market, where some consumers who value the product can’t buy it, and the inventor doesn’t gain their money either. This reflects a market inefficiency caused by lack of competition.
How do patent law and the marketplace work together to foster innovation?
Patent law provides a property right to incentivize innovation but doesn’t direct its focus.
The private market signals to innovators where to direct their efforts.
Together, the patent system and marketplace foster innovation in a decentralized manner.
What is the main economic rationale behind patent law?
Patent law incentivizes innovation by granting inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for a limited time, allowing them to profit from their work and recover development costs.
What are the potential market inefficiencies caused by patents?
Patents can create a monopoly, leading to higher prices, reduced output, and limited access to the patented product, resulting in deadweight loss.
