Protecting On-Line Interests and Understanding How Intellectual Property Relates to E-Commerce - Assignment Example

Protecting on-line interests Table of Contents a) The effectiveness of traders using intellectual property law and computer law 2 b) Relevancy of laws in on-line trading 3 c) Potential problems in the future 5 References 9 a) The effectiveness of traders using intellectual property law and computer law In the last decade the process of global communication has been redefined by internet, as a consequence the process of worldwide trading has also changed significantly. Traditional trading has transformed into online trading. As computer and internet are becoming accessible to more and more people in the world, online trading is becoming more relevant to all the industry. Today online trading is heavily used because it is much faster, more efficient and cost effective way as compared to the traditional means of trading. But at the same time there are lots of security issues that have become major concern among online traders. There are several laws like intellectual property law and computer law which could be effective in protecting the interests of online traders. Before getting into intellectual property it is very important to have a clear understanding on the intellectual property. According to World Intellectual Property Organization intellectual property could be referred to any creation or innovation of mind, artistic and literary work, images, names, designs and symbols that are used in trade. Intellectual property could be classified into two distinct categories, industrial property and copyrights. Industrial property includes trademarks, patients and industrial designs on the other hand copyrights include artistic and literary works like poems, novels, plays, films etc. Copyrights also include architectural designs (World intellectual Property Organisation, n.d.). Online traders have important role to play in the entire scenario of online trading mechanism. In simple language it can be said that online trading involves selling and purchasing through internet. The process involves transaction of money, goods and services. In online trading mechanism it is possible that the two parties did not meet physically as a result there might be some issue of faith and transparency. Moreover keeping copyright laws unaffected is another major challenge. As a result in online trade mechanism traders need to be very much conscious regarding protecting their interests. It is very much possible that one new online trade model of a particular business organization can get entirely copied by another organization as there is no firm internet law that can strongly impose the copyright rules. Success of any online trading actually depends on the effectiveness of traders because it is up to them to keep their model secure. Sometimes it happens that there is more than one party is involved in the online trading process. In these cases maintaining copyrights and other security issues become more crucial. Applicability of internet laws and intellectual property laws need to be improved in order to protect the interests of online traders. b) Relevancy of laws in on-line trading Intellectual property and laws related to intellectual property are very important in case of online trading. Like any other trading, online trading also involves buying and selling of products and services. There must be having some copyrights and licensing issues regarding these products and services. Several things like software, music, photos, systems etc. are traded online. Value of these products must be protected and that is why intellectual property laws and technological security systems are so important in case of online trading otherwise products could be pirated or stolen as a consequence of which entire business could be destroyed. Intellectual property is also involved in the process of working of online trading. Various systems that are important for making the internet functioning - networks, software, chips, designs are all protected by intellectual property rights. Large number of work on film, literature art has already been transferred in the online platform and these are all protected by copyright law. Software is generally protected by copyright and patent law, though it was found that in 2001 almost 40% all software, used in business, was pirated (World intellectual Property Organisation-a, n.d.). Trademark is very important in case of online trading. It is used in order to protect goodwill, branding, customer recognition of an online business. Trademark system basically eases the process of identification of product and service. It helps consumers to recognize the enterprise which is the actual producer of the product. Like any other form of business any online business is based on patent or product licensing. The main reason behind this is that several different technologies are needed for creating an online product and it is not possible for a particular company to develop all these technologies by its own. As a consequence companies outsource the development process of various components of a particular product to different companies with the help of licensing arrangements. This means a small company might be developing a very small part of the entire product but that company has got the license of that particular part. The process of valuation of business organizations which are involved in online trading or commerce is influenced by the fact that whether the organization has protected its intellectual property or not (World intellectual Property Organisation-b, n.d.). c) Potential problems in the future The definition of communication and business process has been changed with the arrival of information technology. It has brought all the countries, cultures and communities much closer to each other than they were ever before. Today processes are faster, more efficient and cost effective because of proper implementation of information technology. As more countries are getting economically more developed, more people are becoming enabled of using computers and internet. So, use of information technology is increasing day by day and with this increase in use several problems are coming in the picture. Online trading is such a concept that is totally based on the information technology. As a result with the increase in use of information technology use of online trading is also increasing. More number of people and organizations are getting involved in the online trading. As there are several problems that are arising with the increase in use of information technology, quite obviously there would be problems which are likely to arise with the increase in online trading. One of the major problems that has already started to come in the picture due to the increase in use of information technology is unemployment. It is true that business processes are streamlined by the information technology, but at the same time it has allowed organizations to downsize and outsource. Information technology has enabled organizations to perform processes with lesser number of people. Several middle and lower level positions have been withdrawn by the organizations and this has resulted to increase in unemployment. As more and more organizations are depending on information technology and online trading, lots of people are losing their jobs. Another potential problem is regarding the issue of privacy. One has to admit that the process of communication has become easier, more convenient and quicker due to the implementation of information technology, but at the same time one cannot deny that lot of privacy issues have came with the information technology. The most important thing is that common people have become worried as their personal information is getting public. With the help of information technology emails are getting hacked, cell phone conversations are getting intercepted even financial information is not remaining private. Privacy issue is more relevant in case of on line trading as the monetary transactions are taking place in this kind of trading. Information technology has made these monetary transactions unsafe as hackers can easily get all the information; they can even change the direction of the transaction. As online trading is likely to be used in greater extent in coming future, it is crucial to address the privacy issues. Apart from unemployment and privacy issue job security is another important issue that is becoming more relevant in the changed business scenario which is dominated by information technology and online trading. Information technology has created lack of job security and the main reason behind this is that the technology is getting changed very fast. As a consequence there is high chance that a position which is very much relevant today might not remain so after two days. As the job positions could become obsolete, job security falls. With the increase in use of information technology and online trading more jobs would be created in these sectors, but at the same time there has to enough job security, otherwise industry would lose its faith. Culture could be another important issue as information technology has brought different countries and cultures much closer. Today entire world has become a global village thanks to information technology. But the problem is one particular culture is found to be dominating other cultures. For instance US culture and western culture are dominating the cultures in the third world countries. People in the countries like India and China are found to be following the US and western cultures as they are getting more and more closer to these cultures while they are using internet. The most likely consequence of these is that the original cultures of third world countries would be facing existent crisis. Even languages of different countries might also face this problem. English is being used as the principle language in the internet world. As a result people in all over the world are mainly using English as a major language for communication and because of this other regional languages might become obsolete in the coming future. As far as online trading is concerned English is the main language. With the increase in use of online trading more people are likely to be involved from various parts of the world and they would also be using English as the principle mode of communication. As a consequence other languages are likely to be irrelevant in the context of online commerce (Small Business Bible, n.d.). Another major issue that is likely to be very relevant with the increase in online trading is copyright issue. Copyright issue is a major disadvantage of online trading mechanism. Unlike landmark business where copyright laws could be strongly imposed, in online trade mechanism there is lack of strong internet law as a result copyright rule could not be imposed strongly. The main reason behind this is that internet is such a medium which is distributed in all over the world as a result it is difficult to keep copyright laws unaffected. One business can easily copy the trade and business mechanism of any other business organization. This is the main reason why many big business organizations think twice before launching any new business idea on the internet as there is huge possibility that in the next day the idea might be copied by some other small organization. So, with the increase in online trade there must have strong copyright rule otherwise entire industry would suffer. Identifying and communicating with the right target market is a major problem in case of online trade mechanism. Often it happens that advertisement do not reach to the target market and reach to those who are simply not relevant in the process. Basically this happens because internet is open to all. With the increase in the number of user of online trading this problem of reaching to target market would be more prominent. This would be a critical problem for small business organizations as their financial strength is limited. Online trading is such a mechanism which needs a certain level of computer knowledge. If there is lack of computer expertise, efficiency of entire process might be significantly reduced. With the increase in the use of online trading mechanism there is likely to be more requirement of computer expertise (Small Business Bible-a, n.d.). References Small Business Bible, No Date, Some disadvantages of information technology include, Trading Online, [Online] Available at: http://www.smallbusinessbible.org/advan_disadvan_informationtechnology.html [Accessed on January 14, 2010] Small Business Bible-a, No Date, Disadvantages of Internet trade mechanism, [Online] Available at: http://www.smallbusinessbible.org/somedisadvantages_internettrade.html [Accessed on January 14, 2010] World intellectual Property Organisation, No Date, What is Intellectual Property?, [Online] Available at: http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/ [Accessed on January 14, 2010] World intellectual Property Organisation-a, No Date, The Migration of Intellectual Property to the Internet, [Online] Available at: http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/ecommerce/ip_survey/chap2.html [Accessed on January 14, 2010] World intellectual Property Organisation-b, No Date, Understanding How Intellectual Property (IP) Relates to E-Commerce, Program Activities, [Online] Available at: http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/e_commerce/ip_ecommerce.htm [Accessed on January 14, 2010] Read More