Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is the right to protect innovative ideas to make use of and sell a new product or technology. The protection is granted solely to the inventor or corporation, which files a claim on the investors' behalf, for a limited period of time. This may take the form of patents, trademarks or copyrights. IPRs are legally enforceable but with limited monopoly granted by the state to the inventor. Within the specified time frame for which granted, no one else can copy the idea or technology allowing the innovators to commercialize it and recoup any investment on research and its development. Intellectual property has two characteristics in particular which lend it to special legal protection.
The first is that it tends to have a high cost of development and the second is that it has low7 costs of reproduction. For example, it may cost say more than a few crores to bring a new drug to the market, yet after the drug is available any good chemist could through reverse engineering reproduce it at a fraction of the cost. Similarly, amongst any other product or process of which computer software or a piece of writing are the most easily copied.
The area where IPR requirements are most pronounced can be categorized as:
Agriculture - Plant varieties including Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Manufacturing
Information products
The debate for the desirability of IPRs continues in terms of welfare of the innovator who deserves right/remuneration for his efforts against the welfare of the society at large, which would benefit from the access to the innovation. The argument for IPR protection is that there would be less innovation without protection as no one would be willing to shell out large amounts of money or even innovate to develop new products/technologies/processes, if their innovation could be immediately copied by others; stronger the IPR protection, the more monitory rewards can be recouped by the innovator and thus more innovation tends to occur.
However, it cannot be overlooked that the overriding needs of the welfare for all rich and poor is to have affordable access to the results of innovation that can lead to in sustainable development. It is important to note that while on one hand the financial incentive for innovation is a key justification for IPRs, on the other hand, IPR systems can severely hamper the very innovation they are intended to spur as the sharing and spread of innovative knowledge would get restricted in the hands of only a few who can invest in it.
To bring all the countries at par, the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) was formulated in January 1995, under which all member countries must bring their national IPR laws into conformity with certain provisions. However, the provisions in it generated so much controversy and debate that the final agreement states that the conditions "shall be reviewed after every four years from the date of entry into force".
The benefits of IPR protection for the innovator (and country) and lack of it for mankind and sustainable development on a whole needs to be weighted each time the issue crops up and decide accordingly.
By: R.K TRIPATHY
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