Intellectual Property
The New Era – The Concern of IP
In today’s world, due to great information and communication technologies sector, it is faster, easier and cheaper to transport people, products and information, to share ideas or disseminate knowledge.
However, there are people who would like to get rid of this opportunity, conducting illegal and unethical activities especially copying, imitating, plagiarism, forgery and so on which cause injury, loss and damage to others. Thus, the IP issue is getting more and more concern in the business world as this type of issue will not only affected the business related parties but also the people in the world regardless of status, age, profession and so on.
The Crucial of Business World
In the business world, who is not competitive enough will be ‘kicked out’. Who are able to take the opportunity from economies of scale, greater market accessibility and social network will be able to survive. Although you are the original inventor or innovator, if you are not able to take the benefit from IP, then you will soon be replaced.
There are 3 points in explaining IP
IP comes from
Human Mind
Everyone is able to think, the only different is all the minds will not be thinking the same things. Human mind is invisible, unimaginable, uncontrollable and unlimited. People are not able to see what others thinking, not able to know and force other to think as you wish and no border.
IP is an Intangible
Property
Unlike the house you are living, the office building you are working, the car you are driving, IP is invisible, intangible and difficult to retain. If a people do not speak out, write out or present out what he/she think, then others will not able to know.
IP Registration gives you
the Exclusive Right
Having exclusive right means having the monopoly power. You will have the right of ownership over the ‘thing’ you had registered. The ‘thing’ here may refer to inventions, brands, design, location, literary and artistic works. The right of ownership may be your competitive advantage over your competitors.
4 major types of Intellectual Property
Trademark
May be regarded as brand name. Used to identify and differentiate product/service provided by business entity.
Patent
An exclusive right granted for an invention, a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something.
Industrial Design
Ornamental or aesthetic aspect of a product. Consist of 3D such as the shape, 2D such as pattern and ornamentation.
Copyright
The owner of the copyright in a work is given certain exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce the work and to sell it.
Benefits of registering your IP
A successful company will not ignore the importance of self-protection. In other words, IP registration can be categorized as one of the activities under risk management. Giving protection to your IP before introduce to the market will reduce the risk of infringing others IP and at the same time increase your market position and company reputation.
By having your IP registration, you are telling the consumers the product is belong to you especially through trademark registration and geographical indication. IP registration is just like you are placing label on the product for easy recognition.
There are no way to fully stop these but you are able to protect yourselves from being one of the victim. If you are the victim under these activities, you are able to claim for compensation with the infringing parties through a legal manner as long as you are the IP owner.
Through having the exclusive right, you are able to grant the use of your IP to others either in the form of licensing or joint venture and in turn getting monetary benefit. The valuable IP may help you move to the global market.