Judicial Accountability

IPR- A KEY DRIVER OF BUSINESS STRATEGY IN IT INDUSTRY

What is IPR

Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law.[1] While these rights are not actually property rights, the term "Property" is used because they resemble property rights in many ways. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.

The increasing globalization of the economy and the internationalization of trade required countries all over the world to enter into trade agreements and to form regional and global trading blocs. As a result of the economic integration process and technological advancements, intellectual property rights are now global commodities. The protection granted to intellectual property rights, namely, patents, trademarks, copyrights and related rights, industrial designs, and other forms of intellectual property, is limited, however, to the jurisdiction of the country that conferred such rights.

Different national intellectual property legislation coexists within a common market, conferring privileges that restrict competition within the single market. The protection of intellectual property rights in a free trade market is essential to allow the free circulation of goods among member nations. In order to create a free trade market, member states must harmonize different intellectual property regimes and base the integrated system upon common rules of protection and enforcement. This harmonization was initiated through the old system of international protection of intellectual property viz. the Paris...