Laws Protecting Intellectual Property - Essay Example

Heading: Laws protecting intellectual property Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date INTRODUCTION Intellectual property is described as that intangible asset that results from the innovativeness of the mind producing forms such as music, designs, trademarks, literature, copyrights, industrial products and so forth. Such productions which are creations of the mind develop economic and commercial interests which are protected by law and statutes both locally and internationally under intellectual property laws. Intellectual property influences economics at a global scale hence the creation and existence of laws to govern and protect the owners of intellectual assets. The need to protect intellectual assets first came into note at a convention in Paris France in 1883 which focused on protection of industrial property and another 1886 convention in Berne which focused on protection of original literacy and artistic works. Both conventions came up with treaties and agreements on protection of intellectual assets and are governed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). This paper seeks to analyze the importance of the laws protecting intellectual property. This is addressed holistically by exploring the intellectual property laws of the international community who are the consumers of the intellectual assets taking into account that the laws on intellectual property are diverse in nature. The paper also seeks to analyze the effectiveness of the intellectual property laws at their attempt to protect intellectual assets. Intellectual property laws introduce a monopolistic environment on the part of the owners of intellectual assets. In this view, the research paper moves on to discuss whether the monopolistic tendencies created by the intellectual property laws result in tension between the interest of the owners of intellectual property and the consumers of such intellectual properties. IMPORTANCE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LAWS PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Intellectual property laws seek to protect innovations that have solved global challenges for instance in the field of medicine. Intellectual property has helped create massive job opportunities that have stimulated economic advancements compared to other economic fonts. Intellectual property stimulates the forces of demand and supplies hence the need to protect both the producer and the consumer. The owners of intellectual assets do incur costs of production which are at many times high and heavy to bear. Intellectual property laws cushion against copying and reproduction of similar assets taking into account that such copying of production is often inexpensive and effortless. Such effortless reproduction erodes the existing market forces of demand and supply and denies the legitimate owners of their market position and subsequent gains1. It is worth noting that owners of intellectual properties almost all the times use it as a market brand name strategy against their competitors in the market and advocate themselves as producers of high standard and quality goods2. Any similar reproduction of low quality and standard (which is usually the case) is commercially injurious and diminishes his/her reputation as the owner of the intellectual property3. According to the Global Intellectual Property Center, a think tank on the championing advancement of intellectual assets rights, intellectual assets form the backbone of global economy by providing high paying jobs in earnings per year as compared by any other sectors in the global economy. Intellectual property laws seek to protect this industry that has proven so vital in the global arena by ensuring continual reward for innovativeness and creativity. Intellectual property laws not only promote the interests of the property owners but also help consumers who are the end users of the products by ensuring they make informed decisions on the products they choose to buy4. The rules achieve this by ensuring commodities in the market are the ones expected and are of high value and standards since they are being produced by legitimate and authentic owners of trademarks hence creating market confidence on the part of the consumers. As stipulated in the universally declared human rights5, intellectual property laws ensure innovators derive material gains from their work and cushion them against third parties from gaining economically and unfairly from their toil. The world faces enormous human challenges in various fields and it’s beyond argument that intellectual property has come in to make life bearable and enjoyable amidst continuous challenges. Intellectual property laws incentivize innovators and help build motivation. The laws regulate the flow of protected information as a shield to original owners hence ensure an improvement on existing work as well providing room for newer creations while still protecting the existing ones. Thus intellectual property rights encourage the spirit of continual innovation and creativity6. On the industrial font intellectual property rights promote fair play when it comes to trading especially on the import and export business by ensuring only legitimate commodities are actually traded by respecting patents and trademarks7. This in turn promotes economic development by making it easier for investors to penetrate new geographical markets with fewer risks to take care of8.Such an environment makes it safer for transfer of invention by ensuring the security of the rights of the inventor in the long run. Intellectual property rights make certain information on any particular invention is properly documented and easy to read and decipher. Such information may include information on how not to go about a situation and more so on how to approach further future challenges. This in turn reduces the chances of duplication when it comes to researches perhaps in the same field hence creating expansive room for more creative innovations with no duplication of the existing work. Rights governing and protecting property owners bring together manufactures, consumers and industrial players and stakeholders. This creates a statutory obligation by ensuring all works participates to meet the interests of the country in relation to social and economic development9. Safeguarding intellectual property has been a major task10. Technological emergence and advancements have come as a big threat to the effective administration of the rights of owners of intellectual assets. The internet explosion experienced in recent past at the global arena has ensured information is easily accessible hence posing a challenge on protecting patented information that is now in the public domain11. More so through the expansion to access of information in the World Wide Web means intellectual property laws are no longer binding as they were traditionally12.Administering such laws would mean depleting information that is freely available to the public. At the global stage, though intellectual property laws have in the past enjoyed some success as indicated by numerous court suits in a good number of countries. Recent developments might mean some difficulties when it comes to their administration and effectiveness. Non-governmental organizations, copy lefts and increasingly public scrutiny from advocates of open source who argue and seek to implement a common platform of information sharing have made it difficult to implement some intellectual property rights13. Intellectual property and administration of intellectual property rights is a global issue but at particular environments with cultural connotations the rules are difficult to implement .A clear example would be the case of medical patent holder deriving innovation from a particular medicinal plant growing and traditionally being used by inhabitants of that region14. It is difficult to prevent the use of that plant by the locals even though a patent on the plant does exist. Intellectual property rights bring together major facets of human interaction in the arts and sciences of life which should be accessible to all. The rights dictate how the players in the industry interact with each other and thus influencing both financial and non-financial gains on all parties. With the existence of the laws, it is difficult to ascertain how such gains are distributed fairly by all players that is the producers of intellectual properties and the consumers. Industry players in most developed countries have continuously lobbied for globalization of intellectual property rights. This has however been a concern on developing countries as they seek to provide basic needs for the masses especially if such measures would mean an increase on the cost of commodities like medicine and to a large extent reduction on alternatives to choose from. These concerns make it a challenge to implement intellectual property rights at a global scale. Intellectual property rights seek to reward innovators and further motivate them for increased research. However, this has not always been the case. In the area of medicine for instance, private companies tends to channel resources in areas where they are sure of maximum returns. This undermines the spirit of intellectual property rights on aiding research thus rendering them less effective to implement. World Trade Organization and the Trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIP) provide a system and guidelines on administration of intellectual property rights. However, a good number of countries that are still developing cannot implement the system as they lack capacity in legal and administrative infrastructure. Intellectual property rights aimed at ensuring regulatory flow of protected information to ensure transfer of technology while protecting the economic interests of the owner. This however is not always effectual as it depends on some fundamental factors. Transfer of knowledge would depend on the absorption capacity of the recipient which is not always automatic that he/she would grasp the knowledge therein. On a country to country transfer, movement of such knowledge would largely depend on the investment climate and strength of intellectual property laws and agreements. Some inconsistencies have at many times cropped up when intellectual property laws are being administered especially on patents in relations to rules on monopolies. In 1983 a court argued that patents are merely property rights and are not mentioned as monopolies15. An issue would then arise when such patents assume monopolistic tendencies in the market hence creating a challenge on how to relate them with monopoly statutes. Improved intellectual property rights as stipulated by TRIP would act to increase costs in the developing countries when it comes to access of basic commodities. This in effect would mean increased dependence in form of aid on developed countries who own the rights on intellectual assets16. This increase in expenditure limits access to information and assets thus the effectiveness of administering intellectual property rights may be detrimental in the long run. The existence of intellectual property rights does not merely give motivation for increased innovation as implied. Such laws may influence companies to charge higher prices for their commodities and consequently acting against social welfare and general good of the country17.A good number of nations have suffered conflicting legislation. The rules governing the country come into conflict with international treaties governing intellectual property. Such discrepancies many render administration of the intellectual property laws ineffectual and inapplicable18. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AND CONFLICTING INTERESTS OF OWNERS AND CONSUMERS The nature of rights granted in intellectual property laws has indeed resulted to monopolistic tendencies on the part of the owners of intellectual properties. The result is a form of power on the owners on the effect that the owners influence and control product flow in the market in a number of ways. The manufacturers may obviously enforce a price floor that the consumers have no control of. The price could be too high and the consumers would have no alternatives to turn to as result of a price hike. A good example in 1984 in the case of Jefferson Parish Hospital District v. Hyde, the court rightly presumed that government grant of the existing patent left consumers with no alternative to choose from hence a monopoly and control of market situation19. This results in market tension as consumers try to access commodities which they can barely afford whereas the manufacturers are ensuring a maximum return from the market they are operating in. Intellectual property owners could also hoard commodities from the market in order to influence market prices20. This will effectively ensure that they reap massively from the market prices at the expense of the consumers. In a good number of developing countries this has been a threat to political establishments and governance as such forces revolve around basic human rights on provision of basic needs21. In the market scenario manufactures influence supply of commodities and their geographical distribution. They may as well be in a position to control the aftersales services and repair options enjoyed by consumers. These tendencies may result in struggles between the consumers who want to access commodities at the cheapest way possible and owners who are fighting to make maximum returns on investments22. A good number of developed and developing countries are advocating for free markets with fair competition. Intellectual property rights results to creation of monopolies that at most time erodes the free market economy23. Although the rights are enjoyed within a certain time, limit the periods can be long making others in the ground uncomfortable in the long run and always fighting to change the existing situation. It’s worth mentioning that intellectual property grant rights to manufactures to solely produce products in a particular way. Where such manufactures have monopolistic powers it would mean consumers have no choice and parameters to ensure quality is maintained throughout and the consumers have no way of lowering the costs of production. In this way consumers may easily be manipulated resulting in conflicts of demand and supply in the provision of services. Intellectual property laws grant exclusive rights to manufacturers on provision of commodities; however tension arises where such commodities constitute basic human rights24. Access to medicine for example is a basic human right and with existence of patent laws the prices could be too high for consumers and thus a violation of basic human rights. In some instances the raw materials for certain commodities enjoying intellectual property rights could be drawn from a certain region inhabited by the consumers. A moral question then arises if such inhabitants should be compensated especially if they have no alternatives to the commodities in question. Tension could arise if the prices are high and tend to be exploitative. Manufacturers enjoying monopolistic environments tend to enjoy huge profit margins due to lack of competition25. They gain enormous wealth at the expense of the consumers26. This may be viewed as exploitative and in most cases build a negative picture which may be detrimental on the manufacturers in the long run. Monopolistic tendencies on the manufacturers holding intellectual property rights could also fail to protect the consumers against wrong market practices. Manufacturers enjoying monopolistic markets can market the same product in different names thus deceiving the consumers and also inhibiting entry of other players. Incase this proliferates to the public who are increasingly becoming conscious of their rights to access of basic commodities it would always be a source of conflict and tension. Monopolistic tendencies created by intellectual property rights deny consumers to holistically access and use commodities. Monopolies would limit output and this means fewer people would be able to buy the commodities. Firms and manufacturers not exposed to competition have less motivation pressure to research and improve the products and thus making consumers dependent on the poor manufacturer’s innovativeness. In some cases, intellectual property owners enjoying monopolies create social problems by delaying production of other commodities that would otherwise be beneficial to the consumers. Manufacturers can refuse to grant permission for others to improve on their technology thus acting as hindrance to advancement of commodities used and enjoyed by consumers. A good example is the case of the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers contributed significantly to the advancement of airplane technology .Unfortunately they held close the patent of airplane steering stabilizing system technology against the wishes of others who sought to improve it leading to litigations in the courts of law. They actually suppressed emergence of technology which would have been beneficial to consumers. It has been observed in some quarters that intellectual property owners have actively participated in the formulation of policies to protect their interests especially when it comes to copyright laws. This has resulted to them setting very high standards to levels that are not practical in the perspective of the contemporary. This sets a fertile ground for conflict between the consumers and the interests of the owners. CONCLUSION Intellectual property rights are a divergent and a global issue that has generated huge debate from time immemorial. Dynamics in the field of innovation and industry evolves at a rate that the laws protecting the owners of intellectual property need to be constantly reviewed to match the changes in the environment. A major issue of concern is the internet explosion that has been witnessed in the recent past. The internet has brought information closer to the public and with increase accessibility. This has challenged intellectual property laws administration. On another front, increased public scrutiny and advocates of human rights have constantly challenged intellectual property rights at the world stage. This has challenged the existence of intellectual property rights in respect to enjoyment of basic human rights especially in the field of medicine. This is more visible in the tussle between developed countries who are the owners of intellectual property and the developing countries who are struggling to meet the needs of the masses. Bibliography Books Andrea Galeoti, On social and economic networks (Rozenberg Publishers, 2005). Birgitte Anderson, Intellectual property: Innovation, governance and institutional environment (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2006). Gordon V. Smith and Russel L. Parr, Intellectual property: licensing and joint venture profit strategies (John Willey and Sons, 2004). Govin Permanand, EU Pharmaceutical regulation: The politics of policy making, (Manchester University Press, , 2006). Graeme B. Dinwoodie and Mark D. Janis, Trademark law and theory: a handbook of contemporary research (Edward Elgar Publishers, 2008). Lionel Bentley and Brad Sherman, Intellectual property law (Oxford University Press, 2008). Mark R. Halligan, Intellectual property law (IICLE Publishers, Springfield, 2008). Mathew O. Jackson, Social and economic networks, (Princeton University Press, 2008). Mpazi Sinjela, Human rights and intellectual property rights: tensions and convergences, (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007). Ramesh Chandra, Issues of intellectual property rights (Gyan Publishing house, 2004). Robert C. Bird and Shubhash C. Jain, The global challenge of intellectual property rights, (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008). Susan M. Daraj, The universal declaration of human rights (InfoBase Publishing, 2010). Journals Peter K.Yu, ‘The global intellectual property order and its undetermined future: Analysis and debate on intellectual property issues’ (2009)1 The WIPO Journal 3 Stephen Mcjohn,’Northwestern journal of technology and intellectual property’ (2011) 9 journal of technology 326. Cases Jefferson Parish Hospital District & Hyde (1984) 466 U.S. 16. Shenck A.G v. Norton Corp (1983) 713 FED 3 Read More