The Intellectual Property Rights Law Commercial Essay

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

E-Commerce

Contents

Introduction

Section 1

This report is about the Intellectual Property Rights. The main purpose of this report is to understand the importance of the security caused by these rights in today’s world. The history of these rights goes back to as far as 19th century, from where the Berne and the Paris convention, started with the term Intellectual Property, which was then followed with the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization, (WIPO).

With the increase in competition, more and more owners and producers are able to create goods and services with the best of their available resources, in order to make sure that the idea or an invention created is totally protected and not copied by anyone else, Intellectual Property Rights is used as the basis of providing them with these rights to posses and sell those good or services for a specific period of time as the law permits. The creators of any good or service has a novel idea, which is produced after years of research, planning and execution. After all the years of effort, the execution of the idea and the production of the product, an invention are created by the producers for the customers, thus it is important that the inventor does get support and protection of his idea and creation and that it is not copied by anyone else. The purpose of this law is to promote creativity and to encourage fair practice of trade for the devolvement of better social surroundings. This support and protection is the value which is created by Intellectual Property Rights.

What is Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual Property refers to the creation of mind, for which rights are given to the creator for the invention. Under the law of Intellectual property rights, owners are granted rights for the intangible assets they posses. Such property is the information or knowledge which is used as assets by only the creator as an expression of economic and moral rights. Governments provide a momentary lawful monopoly to the invertors by giving them the right to limit the exercise of the property by others. These rights could be given to others for use though licensing or fees which has to be paid to the owners of the creator with the terms and conditions mentioned by the law of Intellectual Property Rights.

What goes into intellectual property rights?

As a creator of goods or services, a lot goes inside the creation of a novel idea. All this creation requires a lot of hard work and other factors which has to be made under consideration otherwise the real impact of Intellectual property rights could not be properly understood. A factor that goes inside the creation of Intellectual property includes;

Time: A lot of time is required for the research and development of such ideas, the time varies depending on the level and intensity of the project, a great novel idea such as Laptops, could mean years of hard work and effort for its planning, organizing and implementation, thus time is a factor that takes high magnitude of effort for the inventor to produce a novel idea or a creation.

Energy and Effort: Energy which has to be put inside the creation of an idea is immense, the level of brains and mental ability which has to be inserted for a particular project. Long working days could take out a lot of human effort which could easily affect the human body in the long run.

Amount of money to be put into a idea: Any idea takes a lot of human as well as Monterey capital to be implemented, Research and development cost, the cost of equipment and other cost which have to be made to make the good and service is a lot and needs a lot of backing and protection.

Education: Every person who is creative would have a particular education background that would help a person to have a sharp mind in order to think something big, this intellectual ability is the basis for an invention which is made by inventors. (Chapman, 2010)

Types of Categories Included in IPR

An intellectual Property right includes couple of categories: Industrial property and Copyrights.

Copyrights

It relates to the artistic and the literary creations, such as poems, novels, music, paintings, and cinematographic works. The major act in respect to the literary or artistic work is the making of the copies or works including, books, a painting, a sculpture, a photograph or even a motion picture. The author has the right to print as many copies as he can and refrain others to copy under the copy act law.

Industrial Property

Industrial property has several forms that include Patents which protects inventions and industrial design for the manufacture and appearance of industrial products. They also include trademarks, service marks, layout designs, and integrated circuits as well as geographical indications, with the protection against unfair competition. Security is offered against unlawful use of signs which is likely to mislead customers.

Patents

The patent act governs the issuance and the exercise of patents. It is granted to inventors for the creation of new products or processes. Patents are also given for design and plants. For any invention which serves as the right to be given patent, it has to serve the certain functions which includes

Industrial Utility : The invention made by the inventor should be of practical use, and capable of industrial application

Novelty: The invention must have features which have not been introduced before, and which is completely new and is not heard of by any one.

Inventive Step: It should be a step which could not have been produced by a person of average knowledge.

Patentable subject matter: The subject matter of the patents should be in accordance to the law in the nation. It should not be something, which would affect the moral value of anyone, be it religious factors or even public health.

. This law of patents provides the inventor for right to use and sell the invention for a period of 20 years, and the rights to prevent others from using their brief monopoly. Patent can be granted by the Patent Officer to the creator of inventor.

Trade Secret

It is any type of information, which could comprise of a formula, a program device, a process or even a technique which has an economic value. These Trade secrets includes blueprints, price information of the company or even a customer list, which could be used by anyone else for their benefit. Differences arise between trade secrets and patents, as there is no process for applying these rights, as they come into effect as soon as they are created.

Trademarks

Trademarks are also known as service marks; it allows the seller to use a unique name, a symbol, letters, words, shapes or even colors, which can be used to identify a corporation, good or a service. Trademarks also could be for audible signs, just as the roar of a lion or any sound which is unique and represents a good or service. Marks include, Collective marks, Certification mark and also service marks ( used for tourist agencies or even hotels ) .The trade mark provides identification of the mark which represents the owner or the creator, thus it gets easy to differentiate between a good and a service, the place it is coming from and the quality which is associated by the company or the creator of the product. Trademarks are important when a new good or service is launched or even a company has been launched, it gives a distinctive factor and separates the product or a service from competition.

The trademark prevents other companies which have similar products to use the involvement or quality of the trademarked product. It is a mark which is in the minds of the customers, and when everyone are going to look at the mark, or the symbol they would know that this good and service belongs to a particular company for example, the way Pepsi is written on the bottle represents the actual Pepsi co Company as the producer of it. The concept also permits to geographic indication, as the sign show cases the quality and reputation from where the product is actually coming from. (Shayerah Ilias, 2008) (p .7 ).

Industrial Design

It comprises of any decorative or atheistic design, it may depend on the shape, size, and the color pattern of the item. It should be something which is new and original, and it could be reproduced if needed. The protection which is created for the design is the exclusive right to create, put up for sale, trade in or even hire or offer to sell is given to the creator to use it for a period from 10 to 25 years.

Advantage of using Intellectual Property Rights

The correct use of intellectual property rights gives great benefits to the creator, customers and also companies. It allows the owner of the creation to earn any cost they had incurred in the development. The major cost could be the Research and development cost which may take the owner several years to recover, thus cost could only be earned back by the creator only if Intellectual property rights are given to him as he is then the only one who can sell his good or service for years which is a good incentive to him/her to spend so much amount on research.

Benefits to the Creator

The creator has the exclusive rights to his creation for a certain period of time, in his favor that only he is the one who can sell his work and get revenues from it. The creator also has the right to produce more copies of the work so that it could be distributed among markets for sale. Value is generated by the creator, and value is what he/she gets in return because of Intellectual property rights.

Benefits to the Customers

By providing goods and services which are off good standard is a way to protect the customers, as more the counterfeit products there are it will be more difficult for children or even adults to feel safe in purchasing good or services. The value they get from purchasing a good which they know is from a company who is reliable to them is satisfactory to them, otherwise if products or services which they buy from getting the value they want but if they don’t get it, it creates confusion and anger in the customers which is bad for both economic and social life of a country.

Benefits to the Companies

An intellectual Property right gives a lot of protection to the companies which may include

Protection to the companies against its competition. It lets the company get ahead of competition if they have a novel idea. It also helps them to have the right to recover their cost which they have incurred in the development of the idea.

Protection for the company for maintaining its long term competitive gain. An idea which has been implemented and which could not be copied by anyone else gives the companies the benefit of long term revenues, as distinctive features and technology helps them separate themselves from competition.

Registered Rights is an asset. An asset is something in an organization which enables them to persuade others to invest in their organization. An invention could be an intangible asset or a tangible asset which could easily increase the value of a firm balance sheet. Banks , shareholders and other investors, do have a look at these values to determine whether they want to invest in a company or not, Thus it helps as an added advantage for the company

Registered Intellectual Property gives complete assurance to the customers that the products are from a particular company or a background and it has the qualities and standard which is required for it to be valuable.

Profits which the entrepreneurs get with the help of protection could be easily to invest in the research of another novel idea or a product which continue to benefit the firm in the long run. This reinvesting of profits in the company would mean more development and increase of assets for the benefit of the organization.

Authority or being the owner of a good, service of even a company provides them with the ability to license their ideas in the way of franchising to others, which would add additional benefit to the firms in the form of revenue without any risk been involved. This would result in the expansion of business in the domestic as well as the global world and would increase their range from one market to another for example NIKE.

Benefits to the nation

The entire nation or a country also benefits from the Intellectual Property Rights; this could be done if,

Multinational companies bring foreign investment into a country: Multinational companies go to those countries where they believe their products would be valued by customers, and they would get a good return on their investment. Countries that have the laws on intellectual property rights makes such organizations feel that their assets and ideas are protected and they would get the benefits they need. This protection means big companies with huge some of investment pushes their wealth into a country which in return helps the economy of the country as they get foreign investment. The economy of the country benefits from a better Gross National product, more organization in a country means more jobs for the citizens, these results in a reduction in the unemployment rate which in return improves the standard of living in a country. (Maskus, 1997)

For entrepreneurs the idea, or the creation of something new is the basis for which the business is created and stays on for a period of time, if such innovation would not be implemented, no business would be able to produce huge amount of revenues would is essential in safeguarding the company’s future.

Section 2

Understanding of the significance and value of these Intellectual Property Rights is very important as it helps the proprietor to appeal officially against any imitative work which could cause dissatisfaction, monetary loss or exploitation of the owner’s technology. World Trade Organizations and other International unions such as economic union set high standards that have to be followed including the protection caused by these Intellectual rights.

Without the official permission of the owner, the creation or production of any goods may lead to legal actions being taken against the guilty which will help ensure fair competition, security and motivation to the creators of these novel goods and services ( for example Apple products such as I phone ).

Its significance related to E- Commerce

E commerce involves selling of goods and services through the internet. It is the next big thing in today’s world, with the increase in companies offering its products worldwide through the help of the internet. Internet that involves websites, blogs and social sites are used as an easy access for customers to buy goods and services they wish through a single channel around the globe. Many companies are now involved in the advertising and selling through e-commerce.

E-commerce gives several advantages to the companies which includes;

Targeting a lot of customers: Through e commerce a lot of customers could be targeted through the net, customers from all over the world could have easy access to the company’s products and hence would make an exchange easily.

It is cost – effective: Selling through the internet decreases the level of distribution channel, products are directly targeted from the producer to the customer, with no intermediaries who enables cost to be reduced for both the supplier and the customer. The company would have had to distribute its product through different channels which would have been of high cost because of distribution expense.

Intellectual Property Rights is of great significance related to E-Commerce, products sold through the internet, may include music, photos, software , design or even systems. IP is of high value as those goods which are traded through the net must be protected, using security and Intellectual Property laws, else those goods could be copied, stolen and the entire business could be get damaged. IP is the basis on which E-commerce is working, the system which allows internet to work, including software’s, designs, websites, networks are all form of Intellectual property which are protected by these rights. The value of all the business which are working with E-commerce are protected by IP in the eyes of the customers, if such protection was not given, even customers would not believe in the goods they are purchasing without a feel of the product in their hands.

Role of International Organizations in Intellectual Property Rights

Since the Intellectual property rights were recognized by the world Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and been serving as a agency to the United Nations, a great impact has been create by these laws in the world. All International organizations, are know fully aware of the rules posed by the act and have collaborated in dealing with the issued related to the property rights.

World Trade Organizations as been the main association for trade throughout the world gives great emphases on the protection of rights held by companies or even individuals, the people in countries where the laws of Intellectual property rights are not enforced. The WTO was founded in 1995 and under its agreement with the WIPO, as mentioned by (Peter-Tobias Stoll, 2009); it consisted of around 40 individual agreements for the trade and services for intellectual property. (p. 6).The WTO takes resistance for providing the goods and services to such countries as the author or the creator of the work could get exploited. The countries that are a part of the WTO are fully aware that in order to trade the goods and services that are under the registration of the Intellectual property rights should be given complete security and the rights that they deserve. The agreement was set between the WTO and the World Intellectual Property Rights to safeguard the interest of the inventors and also have a good and fair trade between member countries

Section 3

The risk of not following Intellectual Property Rights

The rights given by Intellectual Property gives a sense of security to the creator of the idea, whether it is a book, a story or even a machine. These rights of manufacture , use, sell for a certain period of time to gain revenue has great benefits for the producers, if intellectual property rights were not given to the creator, a lot of damage could have been done in today’s world . A lot of risk would have been asserted with every business, every idea and with every book which was been published. These risks could involve:

Infringement risk: In case of a Patent, the owner or the creator would be in a risk through the infringement of goods and services. Infringement is the violation created through unfair means by taking advantage of someone else, Infringement involves the unauthorized use of the good or service without the permission of the owner; this is a great challenge in foreign countries goods could be manufactured by illegal means and be distributed in the market for a lesser price, because of this, the real owner would not have been able to get the returns he/she would have wanted for the efforts and capital invested in the idea of the good been invented. Mean while, the infringement risk in copyrights would be when a third party engages in an act without the permission of the owner, which could include performing acts, sound clip or even visuals. Books which have been written with a lot of hard work and efforts and it takes years to compile it could easily be reprinted by anyone else if it is not registered under Copyrights act.

Risk of Piracy

Piracy means to hijack, it is referred to as an unlawful photocopying of an original document for monetary gains without the permission of the proprietor. Piracy has affects to both trademarks and copyrights. It could be easily done through illegal means of duplicating the actual material whether it is a software, movie or an even a theater play. While, trademarks piracy would take into account the use of international trademarks which is not registered in a country or which is not valid for the purpose of use without the consent of the owner. Any sign, logo, color or the name of a company could easily be copied by any one which would in return exploit both the owner and the customers.

Risk of Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting is making of the product with the same shape, same size and same specifications. It is like a carbon copy of good which could easily be fake in nature. Such products are created, marketed and distributed into the market with the exact same exterior as the original product for the purpose of misleading customers. If a good is not trademarked, counterfeiting is a easy way to make use of the good which would not meant any wastage of time, money and brains for the one indulging in the crime. These products could also be sold for a higher price depending on the demand in the market, which could in return reduce the sale of the actual product. On the other hand, if any customer experiences a counterfeit product with the intension of buying the original product, would led to a decrease in the confidence level as they would feel misused. An example of counterfeiting products could be fake fashion with brand names, such as watch with the tag of Rolex, but not being the actual Rolex produced by the original maker and producer.

The value the producers need from the time they put in making the original product, can easily be diminished with the copying of such goods, this would mean a great disadvantage to the maker of the product as he/she would not be the only one in the market who would be selling that good which would eventually lead to a drop in price due to the excess of supply.

Counterfeiting could be of

Documents such as which could be key to any company or corporations

Consumer goods

Money or government bonds

Risk of Unfair competition

As a result of no Intellectual property rights being provided to the owner of the company, unfair competition would increase immensely. The real owner of the good or service would have no chance to generate the revenues that he deserves, a lot of producers making the same good or services would take advantage of the fact there is no law to protect the real owner, thus every other person selling that good would benefit from it, A lot of sellers in the market would reduce the price of the good and would mean unfair competition for the original producer.

Risk of Security

There would be no security for the original owners of the Intellectual property as they would have no right to stop others from using their creation. They will not feel secured of the fact that they will generate enough revenues from the creation. The owners entire wealth could be at stake with that good or service been made by him/her and without the law of intellectual property rights, he / she could suffer from a great loss

Risk of De motivation

As a result of no protection of Intellectual rights, the original owner of the property would not benefit enough from the creation; this would result in very low motivation for the creator to make an invention. It is the feeling that he/she would be encouraged and valued is what motivates a creator and then that person gives all their life to create something for the people which would cause development. Thus, motivation for the owners is very important for them to have that feeling that whatever they are working for or they are creating would be valued by others in a way of appreciation and monetary benefits.

Fourth Section

Authorities in the UAE

The UAE government has made several steps towards the protection of Intellection property with the help of their own enforcing agencies. The department of Legal affairs, ministry of economics is the legal reference for the power. These are the source from which law are issued which have to be implemented.

The legal department and the ministry of economics made all needed steps to provide with the essential backing to Intellectual property rights; it is going ahead and achieving the goals towards total fulfillment with the TRIPS agreement. The first law was made in 1992 and was amended in 2002.

The first trademark registration was made in the year 1993. The trade mark registration office runs under the ministry of economics and has put together all the laws for registering with the trademarks protection.

The UAE law protects the Industrial possession of Patents, Design and Industrial inventions under Federal Law no 44 of 1992.

The federal law no 40 of 1992, is regarding the intellectual property for copyrights.

Federal law no 37 of 1992, is regarding Trademarks

The authorities in the UAE are working for the protection of such rights, by providing them with full security and the encouragement to create novel goods and services. The law would punish the one who has not abided by the laws and copied an invention, would be punished. All the goods would be detained and smashed and fines would be imposed on the person.

Conclusion

The laws related to Intellectual property rights have meant benefits for the creator of the invention. These benefits results in fair competition, good value for the creator and motivation for people to produce such novel ideas for the development of the country. There is high risk on investments for inventors to bring up a new idea in to the market, or to start of a new business, any creation which is made due to efforts, time and money would only be benefited through the protection from Intellectual Property laws. It gives the owners competitive advantage compared to others in the market which is a huge factor for the producers.

Developed countries do have a strong grip on the their laws in regards to the property rights, but Developing countries are still trying hard to make it perfect with the late entry into their countries and bringing it into their culture is taking time but the effort of many countries is great to bring Intellectual property rights to their country and provide protection to the inventors of novel goods and services. Every country now realizes the importance these rights have on the outcome of a country. The country with the best law for protection, The United States Of America, is having the highest rate of inventions in the recent time, their people are protected and new ideas flow in the market for a better tomorrow. This concept is been adapted by most of the countries of the world to bring in new products by giving incentive to entrepreneurs , engineers, authors and industrialist to provide the country with the highest quality and standard of goods with it been something new to the people of the nation and the globe.