Intellectual property refers to a person’s or an organization’s ownership of an intangible good that comes from human creativity. They include trademarks, trade secrets, patents, and copyrights. Many people have gone at greater lengths in ensuring that they derive the greatest benefits from them by preventing other people from copying and imitating them. This is what is referred to as intellectual property protection (Chaudhry, 2013) . Various ethical issues guide such important decisions. Some of them include the freedoms of other individuals and the benefit such property has to the general public. The paper focuses on the importance and ways of protecting intellectual property, limits of this practice, and balance that content producers and public good can maintain.
Napster Inc. v. A&M Records, Inc.
Napster, an online download company had set up software where people could share MP3 files. In 2000, A&M Records, artistes and other music entities filed a lawsuit with a district court of Northern California complaining about copyright infringement. Napster was found guilty of violating intellectual property rights against the complainants and stopped from continuing with allowing users to freely download music and other recordings without owners’ permission. The complainants’ issues and the court’s decision explains the importance of protecting intellectual property.
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Importance of Protecting Intellectual Property
There are various reasons why a person or an organization needs to protect the trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights of his/her ideas. First, one can sell or license intellectual property thus generating revenue. This will only be possible if he/she has put certain barriers, preventive other people, to use it for their advantage. Secondly, it prevents the competitors from using the person’s creativity to gain an economic advantage over him/her. One develops an idea with a view of gaining economic advantage or other benefits from it up to the maximum (Buchanan & Wilson, 2014) . When another person gets access to such property, he/she might also use it to his/her advantage thus denying the owner enjoyment of its full potential. Third, the protection of intellectual property sets one’s business from the rest thus enabling customers to identify it easily from the rest. This allows it to control a certain segment of the market with certain clients choosing its product from other companies’. Had not this been the case, there would be a lot of duplication of ideas leading to the mix-up and confusion in a given market. Lastly, the intellectual property makes an integral part of anyone’s branding and marketing. Customers recognize a person’s or organizational products using a particular trademark. Protecting it means that another business cannot sell counterfeit goods purporting to be from the original maker.
Steps Involved in Protecting Intellectual Property
First, a person or an organization needs to register the copyright, trademark, or patent with the relevant authority. Different countries have bodies that deal with protecting intellectual property thus anyone wishing to do it needs to meet certain specifications before he/she could be allowed to register one. One of those requirements involves a background check to ascertain whether another person had registered such an idea before. The second step involves registering the business, the domain name, or the product. As registering patents, copyrights and trademarks could not be enough, one may register the business to protect the intellectual property identity. This will ensure that they have a genuine owner thus preventing a competitor from claiming ownership. Third, an individual or an organization can make confidentiality, licensing, or non-disclosure contracts with the partners or employees (Legal Affairs Division & Legal Affairs Division, 2017) . When a business develops an idea, it may involve other stakeholders in keeping its secret. Such people can share such information with the company’s competitors who might use it to gain an advantage over the former. To prevent this, the business may sign a binding document with employees and partners which will prohibit them from leaking such information to the outsiders. Such contracts make them aware of the consequences that might follow should one fail to honor the agreement. The fourth step involves developing and implementing security measures. The advancement of technology has seen many businesses transact using the internet. They may also store sensitive information concerning their operations in such platforms. This requires developing and implementing stronger measures to safeguard such vital property from intruders. Lastly, the owner of the intellectual property should avoid joint ownership as it may compromise the security of patent, copyright, or trademark one has. Those partners may recreate, copy, or redistribute the idea held thus rendering it useless to the owner.
Limitations to Intellectual Property Protection
Despite the need for one to protect his/her intellectual property, there are certain limitations that one has to consider. There have been instances where people have used those laws too far thus raising a lot of controversies. Many people argue that intellectual property protection should be meant to bring about the experimentation of various ideas and not to withhold them. Such controversies arise in areas affecting the day to day life of the general public for instance in the manufacturing of medicine and food. A good example of such controversies arose when a company from Texas wanted to patent a certain type of rice grown in different parts across the world. Many challenged this action claiming that it infringed their right of accessing basic commodities. They also argued that patenting such commodities was a massive injustice to the human race as it forms a basic element of survival. Medicine is another product that has elicited a lot of controversies concerning intellectual property protection. Many manufacturers of essential drugs have been involved in a rigorous campaign to identify ingredients for products that could treat common diseases that have affected many people across the globe. However, many activists have resisted any attempt by those companies to withhold information about such commodities. They have argued that such practices deny the masses a way to deal with certain pandemics which can lead to massive loss of life.
Striking a Balance between Content Producers and the Public Good
First, any inventor should aim at making the life of the general public better. It is for this reason that the content producer should strike a balance between him and the masses in protecting intellectual property. For instance in the manufacturing of food and drugs, one should only protect the formula for ingredients of products to improve the health of humans. One should not possess an idea that threatens human existence let alone patents it. Secondly, the protection of intellectual property should not deny the masses access to a basic commodity which is essential for survival. A good example is when a person owns the right to certain information in the manufacture of medicine which will eliminate a particular disease. Lastly, one should always be guided by ethics in protecting the intellectual properties of a particular commodity.
Protecting intellectual property refers to a person preventing other people or businesses from using his/her idea. They may include trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. Protection of intellectual property helps one to gain benefit from his/her idea, prevent competitors from using it, and in branding or marketing of a particular product. The practice involves certain steps like registration, signing a non-disclosure agreement with various stakeholders, and implementing security measures. However, there are certain limitations one must observe while at the same time striking a balance with the public good.
References
Buchanan, J. A., & Wilson, B. J. (2014). An experiment on protecting intellectual property. Experimental Economics . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-013-9390-8
Chaudhry, P. E. (2013). Protecting your intellectual property rights. Business Horizons . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2012.10.001
Legal Affairs Division, W. T. O., & Legal Affairs Division, W. T. O. (2017). Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In WTO Analytical Index . https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139177955.018
