Ways of Protecting Intellectual Property Rights - Term Paper Example

 Ways of protecting IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Intellectual property rights denote the category of rights accorded to individuals due to the creation of their minds. Intellectual property rights usually give the individuals an exclusive over the use of their creation for a given period. The five forms of intellectual property rights include patents, secret expertise, trademarks, copyright, and design rights. Patents: a patent refers to a collection of exclusive rights given by a state to the creator of an idea for a given period. These rights are always given in exchange of the public disclosure of the creation. The period always has a lower duration limit of 20 years. However, the government has the power of denying an individual these rights if the idea in question cannot be commercially exploited for reasons of morality or public order. Patents also exclude therapeutic, surgical, or diagnostic methods. They can also exclude ideas touching on plants and animals and biological processes aimed at producing plants and animals (Shimasaki 2009, p. 86). Given that these exceptions are all involved in bioscience-based companies, the use of patents cannot be that effective in the bioscience industry. Secret know-how: secret know-how refers to secret information that has commercial value that has to be protected on the basis of confidentiality contrary to the need for honesty in commercial activities. This right is always given to protect this information from being unfairly used by the business’ competitors. Just like any other commercial activities, bioscience companies also have the information that they consider critical for the production of their product (Shimasaki 2009, p. 94). This right can help a bioscience company in ensuring that they are safe from unfair competition. Trademarks: a trademark refers to a recognizable expression, sign, or design that is always used to identify a service or product with its producers. Trademarks are always put on products by a certain business to identify them with the producers. This kind of right is very important in the bioscience industry (Shimasaki 2009, p. 90). This is because products produced in this industry tend to have similarities in the purpose they are meant to serve. Thus, consumers will be able to identify different products with their producers. Copyright: copyright refers to a legal concept, enacted by the government, granting exclusive rights to the creators of the original work. The rights given by this legal concept includes the right of distribution, aiming at enabling the creators of intellectual wealth to acquire compensation for their contributions. Copyright can be very important in the bioscience industry especially in a situation in which a life science business wants to get the maximum from their inventions (Shimasaki 2009, p. 96). Bioscience involves the use of biotechnology in fulfilling the needs and wants of human being. This always involves a lot of scientific invention, whose commercial impact can only be assured through copyright. Design Rights: This refers intellectual property right aimed at protecting the visual design of products that are not completely utilitarian. Therefore, the creator of a certain design can prevent the production of products resulting of this design (Shimasaki 2009, p. 98). This will force businesses to cooperate with the academic researchers when it comes to using their designs in production of their products. Raising funds for the foundation and development of a Biosciences Company (Essay 1) A biotechnology business can raise funds for the foundation and development of the business in various ways. Before they embark on the finding the means in which they will get the funds, they should first determine the amount of funds that will be needed. In biotechnology, this might be very tricky because there are some activities that do not always have predictable expenditures. This is also because of the involvement of many emergent and caused strategies in the biotechnology industry. During the creation of the fund earning strategy, the board of directors should consider having the entrepreneurs actively participating in this process. This is because they will be able to contribute to the process with productivity both intellectually and financially. The entrepreneurs might even contribute a significant part of the whole amount that is required for the foundation and development of the business. The board of members might also consider going to the government. Given that most biotechnology businesses are always involving production of product that can be considered to be of national sensitivity, the government might chip in if the business plan presented is a promise. This will be boosted with a circumstance where the business is carrying out experiments that are aimed at inventing a product that will be of benefit to the whole nation. The government can get involved in fund raising for biotechnology enterprises through offering contracts, giving grants, fee-for –service and others (Shimasaki 2009, p. 145). This kind of funding can prove to be very important especially when the project in question requires many financial resources. The advantages of getting funds from the government are that most of them always come with extra support in terms of services such as advices. There is no better place to seek advice than from the government who are in charge of all the policies that affects this industry. Another thing is that some finances such as grants do not have to be repaid. However, because of these funds, a business can lose its sovereignty. The government might take advantage of the financial support that they give to this business to control its extra judicial means. The board of directors is also likely to consider setting up a meeting with prospective customers. In the biotechnology industry, businesses never sell their products direct to their consumers. They do so through agencies and suppliers. A potential client might invest into a biotechnology business knowing very well that they will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the success of this business. They will always be given the first priority giving them an advantage over their competitors. They will also be able to attain a percentage of the business’ income. The advantage of this source of funds is that it can act as a biding factor between this particular customer and the biotechnology company. On the other end, it can hinder the company’s involvement with the supplier’s competitors. A biotechnology business might also seek credit services for the foundation and development of the business. Not all the other sources of funds might be successful in raising the necessary funds for the foundation or development of a business. Evidently, various numbers of financial service providers who can be able to offer credit to a business. This includes cooperatives, banks, and many others. This source of funds is in most cases, discouraged in the foundation of a business because of the high rates of interests (Shimasaki 2009, p. 201). In a case of development, a business might also consider selling some of its shares. This might attract many investors, especially if the prospects of the project in question are high. In a case of development of a biotechnology enterprise, the boards of directors might consider selling some of the company’s shares. Selling of shares is always meant to bring many investors on board. The funds that are acquired from the sales of these shares can be used in all the product development activities. This source of funds is very common and can be very useful in raising funds for development projects. However, this kind of finding usually reduces the powers of the company in question, especially when it comes to decision making. Given the sensitivity involved in biotechnology businesses, this kind of funding can also be disadvantageous to the business owners. A biotechnology business can also get funding for development from sales made from previous productions. This means that the company will be going into their accounts to get the funds to sustain a developmental project. One thing about this type of funding is that it is always readily available. This is because apart from the board members themselves, there is very little convincing to do in this case (Shimasaki 2009, p. 226). Thus, the funds will be available for the project in question without many hassles. However, this source of the fund has its own disadvantages. For instance, the money taken from the company’s might interfere with the business’ normal operations. The move can also be catastrophic if in any case the whole development project turns out to be a failure. The board of directors might also consider liquefying some of the company’s assets that they think that may be of minimal significance to the production process. For instance, the company might be in the procession of a piece that they do not really need at that moment. If these assets are liquefied, then the company will be able to get the many required funds for the foundation and development of the business. One thing about this fund is that they are always a way to make sure that there are no resources that stay idle without being utilized by the business (Shimasaki 2009, p. 278). In most cases, assets are usually considered as a store of wealth for business. If in any case a company decides to liquefy them, then they will be doing away with a very important store of business. Some assets such as real estate have the ability to appreciate. This makes liquefying them a failure by the company’s management especially if the project fails. Operations and structure (Essay 2) Biotechnological enterprises are structured in different ways. They operate through three stages that involve identifying problems in the society, researching on them and actual solution using biological knowledge. They could specialize in healing the world by producing biologically-based drugs. This could be done through researching and producing usable products in disease prevention, immunization, treatment, enhancing disease detection systems and carrying extensive research on threatening infections. On the other hand, biotechnology enterprises could also specialize in energy production through fermentation and using biological catalysts such as yeast. They may thereby end up in microscopic manufacturing. They could also specialize in improving food availability in the world by producing highly productive genetically modified crops, developing nutrition and developing allergen and toxin free foods. Biotechnology enterprises could be structured in many different ways. The most common one being an incorporation in which the enterprise has a legal identity of itself allows it to lease property, enter into contracts, employing people and many more activities. However, biotechnological enterprises may be unincorporated. These may however not enjoy the advantages of incorporating enterprises. The enterprise may be non-profitable. In this case, the enterprise only charges production cost of their products. The disadvantage is a limited growth due to fewer profits. The advantage is that their products are always cheap thus easily bought by the public. The enterprise may also be a charitable one. In this case, the products of the enterprise are given out to the needy in the public at no cost at all. This type of enterprise however, faces a big problem if there are no donors to fund their productions and other related activities. However, governments, international NGOs and individuals who would wish to take part in charity, also heavily fund these enterprises. Contrasting demand (Essay 3) The relationship between the uses of a product and its price may be defined more appropriate in terms of demand curves. Therefore, biotechnological products may be outlined and classified based on this, in terms of how elastic their demand is. The demand of biotechnological products generally depends on their prices according to economic equilibrium theory. Similarly, the supply of these commodities largely depends on their prices, the cost of production and the value of other related resources. Demand can, therefore, be said to be equal to supply of the same commodity taking into consideration the fact that all demand and supply are compatible due to the interconnection of the network of prices as claimed by Watson and Holman in 1977. Prices of commodities are plotted against the quantities of commodities sold in demand curves. The price elasticity of demand is obtained from the gradient of the demand curve. It is generally a negative slope. However, when elasticity is not normal, the slope of the curve may exhibit different characteristics. If the line plotted is vertical, then the demand is perfectly inelastic to mean the amount of commodities demanded for does not depend on the price. If the line is horizontal then the demand is said to be perfectly elastic to mean the even with the price constant, the amount of goods demanded continuously increases. The unit elasticity of demand is the midpoint in a small increase in price produces an equal amount of percentage increase in the amount of goods demanded. However, in very rare cases we obtain negative elasticity, in which trigger increases demand and the vice-versa. Hardly does one find biotechnological commodities with negative elasticity in demand. Generally, most biotechnological products exhibit high elasticity of demand due to competition in production. Single cell protein can be highlighted as one with very high elasticity of demand. Biotechnological food or feed is also price sensitive thus indicating high levels of elasticity. Most pharmaceutical products indicate high elasticity of demand due to wide production. Because it is very difficult to find biotechnological products with negative elasticity, they are normally classified into three categories that are high, medium, and low elasticity of demand. Types of legislation which affect the operation of a Biotechnology Company (Essay 4) Legislations that affect the biotechnology industry come in two forms namely: regulation and market facilitation. The government has developed a well-coordinated framework for regulating biotechnology with the main aim of availing regulatory oversight of products and organisms obtained through genetic engineering. Three agencies provide the primary guidance for experimental testing, approval, and commercial release of genetically modified organisms to the public. These agencies are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS, the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Shimasaki 2009, p. 121). The regulation of biotechnology products is always based on the intended use of these products. Because of this kind of regulation, some products end up being regulated by more than one of the above outlined agencies. The three government regulatory agencies have the main responsibility of making sure that the execution of regulatory decisions, including approving field tests and deregulation of biotech crops that have been approved, does not negatively influence the environment or human health (Shimasaki 2009, p. 124). The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has the responsibility of keeping the United States of America agriculture from diseases and pests. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service achieves this regulation by providing a procedure for the acquisition notification prior to the introduction or permit. The act of introducing is inclusive of any activity that involves movement into or through the United States of America, or release into the environment (Shimasaki 2009, p. 128). Federal Issuance of Experimental Use Permits is another policy that affects the biotechnology industry. Researchers need to seek an experimental use permit whenever they want to carry out any experiments. This permit is basically required when carrying out experiments on pesticides that are not registered and those that are registered but being tested for a use that is not registered. This way the government aims at making sure that these experiments will not have any negative effects to the environment (Shimasaki 2009, p. 142). If these regulations are not followed then, some experiments might lead to negative effects to the environment and even the people involved in the experiment. There is a biotechnological team based at the Office of Science Coordination and Policy. This team has the responsibility of coordinating technical, scientific and policy development programs that fall under the designated Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. The scientific activities that fall under this team include studies, experiments, and production activities that usually take place in the biotechnology industry. The coordination is meant to make sure that there is order in the industry. Disorderliness in such an industry is likely to cause many negative effects to the industry and the country at large. Another important policy in the biotechnology is the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005. This bill provides for the maintenance and collection of human cord blood stem cells for researches and treatment of patients. This bill regulates how researchers and business people in the biotechnology industry make collect and maintain human cord blood stem for both for studies and commercial purposes. For smooth and successful operations, biotechnology businesses have to put in place protocols that will make sure that the companies comply with these legislations. One of such is putting in place good laboratory practice regulations. For instance, a company can consider making sure that substances are tested in animal in making sure that they cannot cause any toxic effect in human beings before they are considered for use in laboratories. Biotechnology companies should consider coming up with good clinical practices that have the safety of human beings as their main agenda (Shimasaki 2009, p. 156). They should also put a quality assurance measure to make sure that none of their activities collides with the legislation by the government. Quality assurance might touch on activities such as testing, packaging, fabrication, labeling, importation, distribution, and sales of their products. The companies should also practice quality control practices. Quality assurance makes sure that relevant and necessary tests are carried out on the packaging material, product, and the raw materials. Quality control should not only be emphasized in the laboratory but in all the activities in the company. Strategies for raising the necessary resources for production of novel drug for pancreatic cancer (Essay 5) Fungonovo needs resources to develop a novel drug for pancreatic cancer. The following strategies are to be applied in raising the necessary funds and to generate extra finance for the enterprise. The strategies mentioned below are definitely the most effective one in raising necessary funds for this purpose. Licensing other companies to produce these drugs could be the first step. This must be non-exclusive to ensure that Fungonovo also continues with the production so that income generation is maximized. The terms of the license must be negotiated carefully to ensure a breach is punished legally to avoid any unnecessary complication in the advance levels of the process. These terms are supposed to act like guidance to how the licensing is going to take place and all the fine details that are involved. Forming alliances with other companies could work too. This could be done with companies producing related goods or on different lines of production. Fungonovo could benefit by getting facilities and materials for the production of the novel drug. If an alliance is formed with a marketing firm, they could even help in marketing our products once produced in small scale to provide funds for production in large scale. Such alliances have proved to be very successful in such cases in the past. The alliances can even lead to merging of resources thus availing more resources for this particular project. The company could sell the IP outright of some of the drugs earlier discovered. This could raise large amounts of capital that would be very necessary in the production of the novel drug. However, this should be considered as a last option as once sold, the company will no longer enjoy the rights to the IP outright (Shimasaki 2009, p. 213).. This will mean that the company will have less powers over IP outright a fact that will definitely not be good news for the business. This explains why many business in the biotechnology industry always avoid getting to the level that they have to sell the IP outright of some of the drugs earlier discovered. The company could also venture jointly into the production of the novel drug with a commercial company. This would be advantageous to the company, as it would enjoy production facilities even though the return will be shared with the joint firm at an agreed rate. The involvement of a commercial company in this process will, therefore, mean that the project has higher success possibilities. This however calls for a high level of trust between the firms and a great deal of risk is taken (Shimasaki 2009, p. 203). This is because dealing with a commercial company that has no integrity might lead to a loss of the whole project. It might also be problematic in deciding on who has a greater control of the resulting products. This will definitely affect the whole process slower or making it unsuccessful. The SWOT analysis SWOT analysis a strategic planning process that involves assessment of both internal and external factors environments of a business. SWOT is an initial for two external factor and two internal factors of business environment. The internal factors that are represented in SWOT analysis are strengths(S) or weaknesses (W), while the external factors are opportunities (O) or threats (T). The SWOT analysis is credited with the responsibility of matching a firm’s capability and resources to the competitive environment that the business operates in. SWOT analysis can be very important in analyzing the biotechnology industry in order to show its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats just as it has been shown below. Strength Strengths of a business refer to the positive attributes that a business possesses. There are various aspects that should be considered when discussing the strengths of a business. The expansion of ownership might help allot in the business’ profitability. This is because with the expansion ownership of the biotechnology industry is likely to lead to an increase in the income. This can only be attained by making sure that the company controls a greater percentage of the business’ shares that making them the biggest decision makers in the business. Given that the biotechnology involves decision making in critical situation, this will really help in making sure that a biotechnology company attains its purposes and goals. Weaknesses Weaknesses within a business organization refer to factors within a business organization that can hinder its ability to attain the set goals. The biotechnology industry involves a lot of experiments that can be rather costly. This is because of the involvement of human beings and other living creatures in these experiments. Apart from the amount of resources that are involved, the industry also faces a lot of regulations from the government. These regulations limit what the companies in this industry can do and what they cannot do. This makes the whole experimental process slower and more complicated. Errors and accidents in the biotechnology industry can also lead to disasters. This makes involvement in this industry very risky especially because of the fact that human beings are in most cases the ultimate consumers of products produced in the biotechnology industry. Opportunity Opportunities refer to external attractive factors that represent the reasons for the existence of a business. The biotechnology industry has a lot of opportunities. Everyday human being consumes products that are produced in the biotechnology industry. These goods are the most consumed as compared to the other products. The fact that the industry involves allot of innovations and inventions is also another attraction factor. This proves that participants in this industry are not restricted to a particular end product but are expected to use scientific experiments to come up with products that will serve human beings better than those already existing in the market. This would mean that the industry always has a promise of growth in market size. Threats Threats refer to external factors that are beyond the control of a business which can put the operation of a business to risk. There are a numbers of threats that are involved in the biotechnology industry. One of such threats is the criticality of involvement of experiment in the business process. If in any case a company invests a lot in an experiment but the results turn out to be undesirable then the company would have lost all the resources that they had spent on this particular project. Another thing is that the involvement of independent academic researchers can be a threat to this industry. This is because whatever these researchers manage to come up with through experimental methods remains to be legally their intellectual property and they are accorded these rights by the law. This means that a company will have very limited control of such ideas in cases where the researchers decide to use their ideas in their own ways. Bibliography Shimasaki, C. D 2009.The business of bioscience: what goes into making a biotechnology product. Springer, Dordrecht. Read More