Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Defines, Intellectual Property As:
The Right to the Protection of moral and material interests resulting from any
Scientific, Literary, or Artistic production of which he is the author balanced
by the right, to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
Intellectual property (IP) pertains to any original creation of the human
intellect such as artistic, literary, technical, or scientific creation.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) refer to the legal rights given to the
inventor or creator to protect his invention or creation for a certain period of
time. These legal rights confer an exclusive right to the inventor/creator or
his assignee to fully utilize his invention/creation for a given period of time.
It is very well settled that IP plays a vital role in the modern economy.
It has also been conclusively established that the intellectual labor associated
with innovation should be given due importance so that public good emanates from
it. There has been a quantum jump in research and development (R&D) costs with
an associated jump in investments required for putting new technology in the
marketplace.
The stakes of the developers of technology have become very high, and hence, the
need to protect the knowledge from unlawful use has become expedient, at least
for a period, that would ensure recovery of the R&D and other associated costs
and adequate profits for continuous investments in R&D. IPR is a strong tool, to
protect investments, time, money, effort invested by the inventor/creator of an
IP since it grants the inventor/creator an exclusive right for a certain period
of time for use of his invention/creation. Thus IPR, in this way aids the
economic development of a country by promoting healthy competition and
encouraging industrial development and economic growth.
The laws and administrative procedures relating to IPR have their roots in
Europe. The trend of granting patents started in the fourteenth century. In
comparison to other European countries, in some matters, England was
technologically advanced and used to attract artisans from elsewhere, on special
terms.
The first known copyrights appeared in Italy. Venice can be considered the
cradle of the IP system as most legal thinking in this area was done here; laws
and systems were made here for the first time in the world, and other countries
followed in due course. The patent act in India is more than 150 years old. The
inaugural one is the 1856 Act, which is based on the British patent system and
has provided a patent term of 14 years followed by numerous acts and
amendments.
In 1856, for the first time the Patent Legislation was introduced in India, and
Intellectual Property was given the legal recognition, the act was subsequently
repealed in 1857 and then in 1859. In 1911, the Indian Patents and Designs Act,
1911 was brought in replacing all the previous Legislations on patents and
designs. With minor amendments in 1920 and 1930, a major amendment in 1945 took
place. And after independent Committee constituted to ensure conducive Patent
system for the National interest which finally made the Patent Act 1970 and
Patent Rules 1972.
Copyright Law in India has evolved in three phases, the First phase was in 1847
the Second phase was in 1914. Number of times the amendments were brought into
this Act and finally in 1957. The Copyright Act 1957 was enacted by Independent
India by which we are governed till date.
The Trademark Act 1940 was the first statute in India on Trademark Law, the said
enactment was amended in 1943 then in 1946. Then this enactment was replaced by
the new legislation the Trade and Merchandise Act 1958. Then in 1999 a new
Trademark Act came into force. The Trademark Act 1999 is governed by Trademark
Rules 2002.
Geographical indications in India are governed by the Geographical indications
of goods (registration and protection) Act, 1999.
Originally, only patents, trademarks, and industrial designs were protected as
‘Industrial Property’, but now the term ‘Intellectual Property’ has a much wider
meaning.
IPR enhances technology advancement in the following ways:
- It provides a mechanism for handling infringement, piracy, and unauthorized use
- It provides a pool of information to the general public since all forms of IP are published except in the case of trade secrets.
IP protection can be sought for a variety of intellectual efforts including:
- Patents law grants protection for new inventions which can be products,
processes or designs and provides a mechanism for protection of the
invention. The patent law promotes the sharing of new developments with
others to foster innovation. The patent owner has the right to protect
others from producing, using, distributing or importing the protected item.
Essentially the patent is a property right that can be licensed, sold,
mortgaged or assigned.
- Industrial designs relate to features of any shape, configuration,
surface pattern, the composition of lines, and colors applied to an article
whether 2-D, e.g., textile, or 3-D, e.g., toothbrush.
- Trademarks relate to any mark, name, or logo under which trade is
conducted for any product or service and by which the manufacturer or the
service provider is identified. Trademarks can be bought, sold, and
licensed. Trademark has no existence apart from the goodwill of the product
or service it symbolizes.
- Copyrights relate to the expression of ideas in material form and
includes literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, cinematography work,
audiotapes, and computer software.
- Geographical indications are indications, which identify as good as originating in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristics of the goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.
The intellectual property rights function with the underlying principle of
protecting the products of human intellect in the same way physical properties
are safeguarded. The theories of intellectual property rights play a definite
role in making someone understand the rights offered and the reason behind the
same. It is interesting to note that although trade secret law is a branch of
intellectual property rights, it differs significantly from other intellectual
properties.
With the focus majorly on specific duties, this branch of intellectual property
only concerns wrongfulness that is determined by reference to independent legal
norms. Thus intellectual property theories play a relevant role in trade secret
law. This article will provide a detailed discussion of the different theories
of protection of trade secrets that have been formulated by various philosophers
with a purpose, and an objective behind them.
The five theories that this article encompasses are:
- The natural rights theory has been constructed on the basis of John Locke’s idea.
- The utilitarian theory is based on the Benthamite ideal of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”
- The deterrence theory supports morality.
- The ethic and reward theory promotes the ethical and moral aspect of intellectual property rights.
- The personhood theory, which was propounded by Kant and Hegel.
