Explain Intellectual Property Rights
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Intellectual property has always been a contentious issue and now with the advent of Internet, intellectual property has become even more difficult to protect especially with people having easy access to information. |
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What is Intellectual Property?
If we try to define Intellectual Property we would have to say that it is the product of the intellect or mind. It refers to legal entitlements that are associated with intangible ideas, concepts and certain types of information. For example, a movie is the expression of creative and artistic work. Intellectual Property gives the copyright holder exclusive rights to the movie for a certain period of time to control the reproduction and adaptation of the movie.
Companies use Intellectual Property to protect their trade secrets. It is a valuable asset that can be leveraged in the marketplace as a competitive edge or advantage. Many businesses resort to Intellectual Property audits to find out what their hidden assets they could have. There are audit checklists available which have questions that are designed to help businesses discover what their hidden assets, and once these assets are found out, steps should be taken to protect them.
If we take today’s scenario, we see many businesses outsource certain functions that are not their core competency. Just because businesses pay to have something created does not give them ownership. For example, a business can hire a software programmer to create a computer program for their exclusive use. However, in order to all the rights from the creator they would have to use an agreement that would transfer all the rights to them.
While Intellectual Property is important to enhance a business, steps should be taken to ensure that it is protected.
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