Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

Introduction
Intellectual property rights protection laws have been around for decades now aiming to
protect the rights of inventors from some people who want to freely access use and circulation of
their property. However, the modern technology developments pose danger to the ability of the
regulators to institute strong barriers against access of private intellectual property without
creating hurdles in the continuous inventions in technology. Peer-to-peer technology that enables
people to exchange files on internet threaten the copyright owners from collecting revenue for
their intellectual creations. Protection of intellectual property provides incentives for innovators
to create more scientific and artistic innovations aimed at improving the world. Research
indicates that the laws that have been in use for several decades are becoming obsolete because
of their inapplicability in the modern technological and globalized world. The issues arise on
how best IPRs can be protected without infringing on the rights of technological innovators to
come up with more open and useful technologies. Protection of IPRs comes at a cost and
evaluation of costs and benefits of provision of these protections may help in creating a model of
the rights to protect in a beneficial way. This paper analyzes the various costs and benefits
associated with intellectual property rights and the extent to which the IPRs are protectable in the
current transformational technological world.
Costs of Protecting IPRs
IPRs come in many forms such as confidential information, trademarks, patents, designs,
and copyrights that form valuable economic assets for corporations and individuals around the
world. It is common knowledge that even the academic information researched and documented
by an individual may not be used for commercial purposes without the knowledge of the owner.
Companies such as Coca Cola, Disney, and Wal-Mart have distinct rights of use of the
trademarks and brand names without infringement by other individuals. However, ideas that are

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not yet actualized may not be protectable under law and individuals may only acquire patents for
real registered information for products and services. There are various costs that an individual or
corporations incur in acquiring rights of protection under law, and thus, it is important to
determine the actual costs of such products (Liebowitz, 2002).
One of the main forms of intellectual properties is trade secrets that any corporation
safeguards to ensure that a company gets the accruing benefits of having secrets of its business
operations. Companies such as Coca Cola rely on the confidential information of knowledge of
how it manufactures and promotes its products. Patents held by Coca Cola do not really benefit
the company. The main costs that the company incur in safeguarding its trade secrets relates to
the legal framework laid down to ensure that all participants in a company do not reveal the
nature of information that the companies use for economic benefits. Such individuals include
contractors, employees, business associates, and the management who always come into contact
with crucial information that if used by competitors may expose such a company to serious
competition. Every individual who is involved in activities of the company that is crucial to the
company usually signs appropriate confidentiality agreements or non-disclosure agreements. The
company meets legal costs of preparing such appropriate agreements, and the amount varies
depending on the kind of agreements involved. Costs of such legal agreements may later increase
in instances of infringement as the company has to set aside a team for enforcement of the
agreements. Maintaining the number of personnel who are in know of crucial operating
information or secrets is also another form of cost that every company must incur. Regardless of
the agreements signed, resignation or firing of some individuals may expose a company to
unnecessary costs (Carsten & Keith, 2005).
Copyrights seek to protect expression of ideas on an innovation or art and should always
be protected to ensure an individual or entitys prospective revenue from such a deal. For

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instance, an individual with a significant form of drawing that is of economic value may run into
losses if such information is used by third parties without consent of the owner. In this
perspective, special bodies are available in the music and other art industry areas to ensure that
the creations are the preserve of the owner. Without license to trade or sell such products, it may
be a form of infringement of rights of the owner. Under the law, copyright protection is
automatic and does not require any form of registration. Such copyrights apply to original works
such as art, literature, music, films, sound recordings, broadcasts, and computer programs.
Agreements should always be drawn to determine the protector of such copyrights or the owners.
For instance, if an employee of a media house is involved in creation of a certain artistic film, the
employee may not necessarily be the owner of the copyright but the company. Such a company
always incurs costs, and the enforcement of the laws of copyright in case of infringement will
always lie on the shoulders of the owner. The extent to which a company may be able to have the
right of certain copyrights may necessitate it to hire legal bodies or copyright associations to
ensure that the rights of ownership of such intellectual properties are safeguarded (Kobayashi,
1995).
Technically, a company doe4s not need to register a trade mark or claim ownership of one
since it is always in the public domain. Trademarks are original creations that should not be used
by other individuals, and it is necessary for other people to know the owner of such trademarks.
Registration of trademarks becomes essential when individuals and corporations need to have
exclusive rights to use certain trade marks for a period of ten years. Renew of the rights of use of
trademarks may be done indefinitely and always comes at a cost to the individuals or mainly
companies. Claim of ownership of trademarks is usually done through extensive labeling of
products with trademark signs. Registration of trademarks ensures that such signs and intended
implication is not copied or registered by rivals. Costs of registration of trademarks may go up to

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$120 per 10 years period, and any company that is keen on the creation of a brad does not
assume the necessity of registration of the trademarks.
$560 costs are incurred by company or any individual who want to register industrial
designs such as the pattern used to make objects such as a carpet or a chair. The protection of
designs and rights to use certain designs over competitors and protection against copying by rival
competitors act as a way in which Designs Act promotes creations and innovations in the world.
The physical appearance of certain creations is important as it may act as a brand structure of a
company meaning that such designs hold significant economic value to any company. Failure to
register industrial designs may deny a company the right to enforce or sue a rival who duplicates
such designs. The essence of use of registered designs is that other malicious companies can
never copy them. Each country uses its own registration bodies and it is important for a company
to lodge applications from different individual countries. Unlike patents where, there are
international bodies that deal with issues of ownership of certain patents, each country
recognizes designs of unique objects and products made within its industries. Patents and designs
may be registered hand in hand in countries like Australia allowing other people to make the best
use of opportunities to benefit from their innovations without infringement of rights to use. Costs
incurred by companies in protection of designs include registration fees and the amount of
money used in making sure that the consumers identify with specifics of their designs in the
market (Carsten & Keith, 2005).
The laws provide for protection of right of use of inventions without copying only when
such inventions are registered or patented and are not inventions of common public knowledge.
Fees for acquisition of patents apply to individuals who want to make sure that their inventions
are not copied by others. The main costs relating to patents include the detailed description of the
information pertaining to the invention and the claims to the claims that a company must file

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with the authorities. Standard patents are more expensive that online applications. Every country
in the world has distinct rules regarding patents and thus, a company may incur costs of hiring
qualifies attorneys for representation in cases of patent cases. There are also qualified IPR
attorneys who are conversant with legal areas that should be of focus in cases of dealing with
patent issues. The importance of the costs charged for protection involve protection under law
and provision of a benchmark for other companies to know the different types of patents issues
within a certain jurisdiction. The end result would be that companies should be hiring their
lawyers in case they file factual cases of violation of their patents. The various costs of protecting
intellectual property rights should be evaluated alongside benefits to determine the necessity of
protection in some circumstances. However, the abilities of offering protection of IPRs are
changing with technology since it becomes expensive and sometimes hard to be vigilante on the
kind of information and content shared over the internet (Liebowitz, 2002).
Benefits of Protecting IPRs
Developed and developing economies benefits from the intellectual property rights in
terms of job creation, revenue generation and strategic importance. IPR is essential in promoting
foreign direct investment as well as technological transfer between the developed and the
developing countries. Through publication and licensing IPR has positively funding for research
and development and encouraged firms to realize great value in innovations together with the
encouragement of cultural expression and diversity. Generally, registered firms use IPR in
various ways to secure income and to support the firms in developing trade easily than those that
are not. IPR provides important methodologies to address the needs of the society in such a way
the society is assured of quality offering and a broad prospect of choice of goods, products, and
services. IPR helps SME's to carry out research on the economic opportunities to be exploited in

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order to raise the income of the business helping the SME's survive the competition. IP funds the
research undertaken by the SME's to identify economically beneficial areas (Pugatch, 2014).
It is important for companies and entrepreneurs to protect their ideas, products and
services through having the ideas, products and services registered under intellectual property
rights. Intellectual property rights are essential in safeguarding the investment from collapsing.
The rights eliminates chances of copying of the ideas and duplication of products thereby helping
the entrepreneurs to recover the cost of establishing and developing the ideas. Registering
products enables businesses to maintain long-term competitive edge leading to accumulation of
revenue that helps to keep the business afloat. Intellectual property rights provide a platform in
which the entrepreneurs use to convince financial firms to invest in their ideas resulting to
increased flow of cash. It is important to mention that, property rights enable the customers to
develop confidence of quality and appropriately standard goods, services, and products from a
registered firm. The ownership rights enable the owner to expand the idea at will without risks.
Lending or selling of the idea, products, and services to other people is easier when the
investment is registered (Einhorn & Rosenblatt, 2005).
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The various benefits that accrue to companies that hold intellectual property rights should
always be commensurate to the necessary fees that the companies are supposed to pay to
authorities. For instance, if a simple small business has a trade mark that helps consumers
identify with its products, the registration fees should not be a burden for the company. The
tremendous changes that have taken place in the world of technology should provide businesses
with a platform for evaluation of better ways of comparing the costs with the benefits. A small
business may not benefit by registering the trademark for its products. In addition, it is necessary
for the business practitioners to analyze the extent to which the technological peer-to-peer

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sharing of information over the Internet may affect its business. It is irrational for music
producers to use extra finances for securing software to vigilante on violators of their copyrights
over the P2P online exchanges (Shadlen & Guennif, 2011).
The online platforms for sharing content cannot be thoroughly dealt with in the context of
business services and films and music industry. In this perspective, the authorities who have the
power of controlling how the copyrights of the people are violated should only come up with real
ways of preventing circulation of such materials through creation of codes and spywares within
companies. Company information can be protected cheaply through creation of a culture where
employees understand the necessity to safeguard the rights to confidential information by the
company. On the other hand, art creations such as films and music can only devise new ways of
promoting and earning for their creations instead of solely rely on business to consumer sales. It
is highly impossible for any copyrights society to put police the way P2P exchange of music and
films takes place. However, with laws such as the Peer-to-Peer Piracy Protection Act sponsored
by Berman in 2002 is necessary in providing a framework over which people caught engaging in
online and computer piracy are prosecuted. The costs of detecting and taking legal actions
against individual offenders of such laws may be high and such laws should be used on people
who use such piracy tricks for commercial purposes (Liebowitz, 2002).
In addition, patents, copyrights, trademark, and designs are beneficial to self-employed
businesses as well the firms established under the banner of a group or an organization. For
instance, in the situation of patent infringement patent rights enable an inventor rely on the
acquired patent rights to launch counterclaim for the infringement. The dispute is settled through
cross licensing of the patent between the involved parties to avoid attracting litigation charges.
Patent, trademark, copyright and design serve as assets to the inventor, avenue to generate
income and add value to companies wishing to exploit potential economic grounds. Secured

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investment benefits from the IPR in obtaining maximum resources to bring their products, goods,
and services to the market. Intellectual property rights provide readily available record to the
public which serves as a warning to stay clear of the protected product. IP expand the market
share through licensing other people in different geographical market and in a different market.
For instance, patentee from California may license another person from different country or state.
In the meanwhile, the licensor earns loyalty payment from the sales accumulated from the
patented products outside the patentee's normal geographical market. Apart from the broad
market the licensor may license the product to retailer while retaining the legal rights for the
manufacturing market (Shadlen & Guennif, 2011).

References
Carsten, F., & Keith, E. M. (2005). Why We Study Intellectual Property Rights and What We
Have learned. In F. Carsten, & E. M. Keith, Intellectual Property and Development:
Lessons from Recent Economic Research (pp. 1-15). New York: Oxford University Press.
Einhorn, M. A., & Rosenblatt, B. (2005, February 17). Peer-to-Peer Networking and Digital
Rights Management: How Market Tools Can Solve Copyright Problems. Retrieved
November 20, 2015, from Policy Analysis No. 534:
http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/peerpeer-networking-digitalrightsmanagement-how-market-tools-can-solve-copyright-problems
Kobayashi, B. H. (1995). An Economic Analysis of Performance Rights: Some Implications of
the Copyright Act of 1976. Research in Law and Economics, 237-70.
Liebowitz, S. (2002). Policing Pirates in the Networked Age. CATO Institute.
Pugatch, M. (2014). The International Political Economy of Intellectual Property Rights. Edward
Elgar Publishing.

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Shadlen, K., & Guennif, S. (2011). Intellectual Property, Pharmaceuticals, and Public Health:
Access to Drugs in Developing Countries. Edward Elgar Publishing.