The Definition of Intellectual Property - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The protection of intellectual property in the South Pacific countries is a pertinent topic. More and more, these laws are cited as a solution to a plethora of problems ranging from unsatisfactory economic performance to the crumbling of cultural awareness (Cook Islands News, 2001) as well as bio-piracy carried out by multinational corporations (Cook Islands, 2002). As a result of this, there was an intensification of in-laws to do with intellectual property as well as urging from the public to put forth additional protection (Pacific islands report, 1999). The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has also placed a lot of pressure on some countries in this region to bolster and enhance intellectual property rights via the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) (WIPO, 2003).

Intellectual property is that which is not tangible, for instance, a song. In Europe, the right to intangible property was not at first recognised. It was only in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the argument was forwarded by artists and inventors that they should hold particular rights to their handiwork to be motivated to use more time and energy in creation. The argument was that the composers expended a large amount of time creating a new composition and then once it was out in the public domain, anyone could learn it and sing it with no benefit to the composer. Eventually, a consensus was arrived at where authors and inventors should retain some particular exclusive rights to their handiwork for a specified amount of time.

Therefore two policy reasons resulted in the introduction of intellectual property rights; the first one was that it was deemed unfair that the copying of insubstantial property could be done with ease while the composer who has carried out all the works gets nothing; and the second was the premise that providing intellectual property protection motivated further creation of artistic endeavours (Forsyth, ).

The ideology behind this Western concept of intellectual property has resulted in the system being characterised by certain singular features. The first is the limited nature of the protection given. The purpose is to provide sufficient protection to motivate creativity but not inhibit the development of science as well as the arts which would result from an excessive amount of ownership. The most substantial restriction is the twenty years of protection known as a patent (WIPO, 2001) as well as the author's lifespan plus a copyright of fifty years. After this protection period has expired, the works become intellectual commons or are in the public domain. In this domain, anyone is free to use the work without prior permission. This is done so that a ready pool of ideas and works exists in which to use to come up with new concepts. Boyle calls it the 'implicit quid pro quo of intellectual property' (Boyle, 1996; 527).

The second feature involves public access to the work, where protection is predicated upon it. When an industrial property is involved, this is achieved by the caveat which states that there needs to be the registration of the trademark, invention or design for requisite protection to apply. In the case of copyright, mandatory licensing provisions must be in place as well as fair provisions to guarantee public access. 

Copyright owners are looking for the help of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) more and more in the fight to curb copyright infringement online. The ISPs are tasked with enforcing copyright and levelling sanctions against users (McBride and Smith, 2013; Sookman and Glover, 2013). According to the ‘graduated response’ schemes ISPS are required to take action against users who are thought to be infringing on copyrights. This action can entail issuing warnings, collation of allegations made against subscribers and reporting them to the owners of the copyright as well as suspension or termination of services (Suzor and Fitzgerald, 2011).

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