Today, April 26, 2013 is World Intellectual Property Day and this year’s theme is “Creativity: The Next Generation”. We all get so many ideas/thoughts, and when an idea is documented and declared before anyone else does, that idea may become intellectual property. You can start your venture or be the famous artist with your idea. To protect your work from prying eyes until you have exploited your idea fully, Intellectual Property Right can be for your rescue.
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property refers to inventions and creations. They do not include discovery, usage of ideas/terms/work that is a common knowledge and that are insignificant tweak to original invention such as the Glivec medicine. There are two categories of Intellectual Property
- Used in industries or commercial purpose – Inventions, patents, trademarks, industrial design, geographic indication of source etc.
- Literary work – novels, poems, plays, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, posts and pictures of any blog including this.
Who Governs Intellectual Property?
World Intellectual Property Organization is United Nations agency that oversees culmination and protection of Intellectual Property at the international level. Countries adopt those guidelines to make their own laws to further Intellectual Property Right.
How does Intellectual Property Right helps?
- Intellectual Property Right encourages companies to explicitly carry out Research and Development, exploration and such activities that may lead to more inventions.
- Intellectual Property Right encourages inventor to disclose his invention to public domain. Inventor may collaborate with other individuals/organizations to develop his invention into a more useful product/service or individuals/organizations can explore inventions after the expiry of patent. In the absence of Intellectual Property Right an inventor may not disclose his invention and deprive humanity of his invention.
- In many industries such as computer processors and pharmaceuticals, cost of commercialization (developing the final product, testing, developing market and users) is much more than initial conception cost. If there is no Intellectual Property Protection then only the inventor will bear the cost of commercialization and it may not be viable for inventor to commercialize the end product.
In conclusion, let’s pledge to respect everyone’s Intellectual Property Rights, create something new and make world a better place to live. Happy World Intellectual Property Day.
