Problems in International Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Subhash Jain

2/25/2015
(Original Publish Date: 1996)

Intellectual property rights are policies that assign and protect the rights to earn income from innovative and creative activity. These rights provide legal authority to control the dissemination and commercialization of new information and ideas and to enforce sanctions against their unauthorized use. Intellectual property rights play a critical role in global economic growth and development because they affect the profitability of industrial research and the rewards to creative activity. At the same time, intellectual property rights are controversial because their stronger international protection may come at the expense of higher prices and reduced availability of products, particularly in developing countries. Obviously, developing countries prefer a low level of protection. Traditionally, intellectual property rights were of concern only to a few lawyers specializing in the field. But the enormous expansion in world trade in the 1980s elevated intellectual property rights to new prominence in international trade policy. At the same time, new and emerging technologies have made traditional protection of intellectual property rights inadequate. For these reasons, the topic of international protection of intellectual property rights should be an important subject of concern among international business and marketing scholars. This article provides an overview of intellectual property rights and their international protection. The conflict between the industrialized and developing countries on the level of protection is highlighted. Issues and controversies that affect the field today are examined. Finally, ideas are advanced for further research on the subject.