Intellectual property refers to the creations of the mind, such as literary, artistic works, inventions, names, and images. There are 4 primary types of Intellectual property: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Patents create a temporary legal monopoly and are believed to recover research and development costs.
Intellectual Property Rights
- Intellectual Property Rights cover copyright and industrial property including trademarks.
- Developments in science have permitted the Intellectual Property Rights to relate to the living matter, giving rise to concerns about the exploitation of plant genetic resources.
Intellectual Property Law
Intellectual property law encourages the creation of a wide variety of intellectual goods. For a limited period, the law gives people and business companies rights to the information and intellectual goods they create. The only difficulty with intellectual property is that it is indivisible i.e. Unlimited number of people can consume an intellectual good and it cannot be deleted.
IPRs are monopoly rights
A monopoly company is the company that has little competition and it can set its own terms and prices for the consumers, making them highly profitable. The British government granting exclusive rights to the British East India Company to import goods to Britain from India in 1600, is one of the best-known monopolies created.
Patent holders take additional matters to determine and undermine potential holders, after securing patents. After this, they make their position of power stronger and extend their monopoly powers as long as possible. Private companies have used their monopolies to charge unreasonably high prices.
Monopoly proponents determinately say that on large-scale, efficiency is raised and production costs are reduced. Private companies try to evergreen their monopolies and try to create long term monopolies. Monopolies make long-term planning and rationalize investment and development decisions.
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would have extended IP protections to cover ‘biologics’, such as insulin if the US did not withdraw from the TPP in January 2017. The TPP was a secretive, multinational trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States.
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS)
It is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the WTO. It specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures. Under TRIPS all World Trade Organization(WTO) members have to provide a minimum level of IPR protection which includes, patent protection for a minimum of 20 years. It facilities trade in knowledge and creativity. It solves trade disputes over intellectual property. It also plays an important role in assuring that the WTO members have achieved their domestic objectives. It benefits developing countries by attracting foreign investment, it has imposed large, avoidable costs on developing countries.
TRIPS Agreement:
It is an attempt to narrow the gaps in the way these rights are protected and enforced around the world, and to bring them under common international rules.
The Agreement helps the WTO members to strike a balance between the long term benefits and the possible short term costs of limited access. It sets the minimum standard of protection for intellectual property rights. It looks upon how to settle the disputes between members of the WTO regarding intellectual property.