abstract
In fact, intellectual property is not a real property right, but a monopoly right-a monopoly on the fruits of intellectual activities for a period of time. Theoretically speaking, the protection of intellectual property rights can ensure that the interests of the creators of intellectual activities are protected, and encourage the emergence of more intellectual activities, thus promoting social and economic development, and other public can also benefit from intellectual property protection. The interests of intellectual property owners can be protected by charging users or prohibiting others from copying and competing for a period of time.
By granting this monopoly right, the creators of intellectual activities can get compensation for the fruits of their labor. For example, a manufacturer may have invested 65,438+00 years to develop a new product. Without the protection of intellectual property rights, the final result is likely to be that after the product is launched, other manufacturers can immediately copy its achievements, and the cost paid is almost zero, so they can sell the same product at a lower price, which harms the interests of the original author. This example is very common in the pharmaceutical industry now: many pharmaceutical companies in developed countries complain that the drugs they have developed after years of hard work and a lot of capital investment may eventually be copied by pharmaceutical companies in third world countries, which will harm the interests of these original pharmaceutical companies.
The existence of intellectual property rights can protect the interests of creators: within a specified time, creators will gain relative monopoly rights (anti-patent cases can limit the abuse of intellectual property rights), and no one else can participate in the manufacture of the same product. The creator can charge the user. In the long run, the public will also benefit: although it is impossible to enjoy cheaper products in the short term, it can stimulate more original innovation investment and lead to the birth of more, better and cheaper products in the future. The relative monopoly of intellectual property rights is also considered benign: if the creator of intellectual activities sets the product price too high, it will only stimulate other manufacturers to develop similar but cheaper products, and the ultimate victim is the creator himself, while the consumer will always be the beneficiary.
However, in recent years, many people began to think that with the excessive expansion of intellectual property protection, the original purpose of the concept of intellectual property has changed: the purpose of intellectual property has changed from protecting public interests to protecting the interests of knowledge creators. Among those who worry that intellectual property rights infringe on public interests, the most famous one is richard stallman, the founder of the free software movement.
Intellectual property rights are divided into two categories:
Industrial property rights include inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications of origin. Patent protection period is generally 20 years, industrial design protection is at least 10 years, and trademarks can be protected indefinitely;
Copyright, including literary and artistic works, such as novels, poems and dramas, films and musical works; Works of art such as painting, oil painting, photography, sculpture and architectural design. The rights related to copyright include the rights of performing artists to their performances, the rights of producers of sound recordings to their sound recordings and the rights of radio and television institutions to their radio and television programs. Copyright lasts at least 50 years after the death of the author.
In addition, there is a special kind of intellectual property: trade secrets. An enterprise can identify any information as a "trade secret" and prohibit those who have access to these secrets from disclosing it, usually through a contract. As long as people who have access to these secrets have signed a contract or agreed to keep them confidential before obtaining them, they must keep them confidential. The advantage of trade secrets is that there is no time limit, and everything can be considered as a trade secret. For example, the formula of Coca-Cola is a trade secret, and all the ingredients of Coca-Cola have not been known to the outside world for more than 0/00 years.
Intellectual property rights have the following characteristics:
Exclusivity: No one can enjoy or use this right except the obligee, unless the obligee agrees or the law stipulates. This shows that unless legal procedures such as "compulsory license" and "expropriation" are adopted, the exclusive right of the obligee is strictly to protect others from infringement.
Regionality: that is, unless an international convention or bilateral reciprocal agreement is signed, the rights protected by a country's laws only take legal effect within the country.
Timeliness: that is, the protection of various rights by law has a certain period of validity, and the length of the protection period can be the same or different. Only by participating in international agreements or making international applications can a certain right be uniformly protected.
General legislation to protect intellectual property rights is mainly based on the following reasons:
Protecting the moral and economic rights of creators and the public's right to use these works;
Promote the dissemination and application of creativity and its achievements, encourage fair trade, and thus promote economic and social development;
Promote technology transfer in the form of foreign direct investment, joint ventures and licensing.
These legally protected rights can be transferred, sold, leased or even mortgaged like ordinary assets in some countries. However, intellectual property rights generally have certain restrictions, such as time limit and other special circumstances (such as fair use, etc. ).
Intellectual property rights protect rights, not products. Patents can be sold or transferred, but the patented products are not affected by intellectual property rights. Therefore, some people think that "intellectual monopoly" is a more appropriate word. In fact, intellectual property is the monopoly of some technologies, designs or knowledge authorized by the government.
[Edit] History
Intellectual property originated from the "privilege" of feudal society. This privilege was granted by the individual monarch, the feudal state or local officials representing the monarch.
[Editor] Intellectual Property Strategy
See: Intellectual Property Strategy.
Intellectual property strategy is a long-term development strategy of some countries. He has played a great role in enhancing the national competitiveness.
1979, the American government put forward that "we should adopt independent policies to improve the national competitiveness and invigorate the entrepreneurial spirit", which raised the intellectual property strategy to the level of national strategy for the first time. Since then, the intellectual property strategy has become the United States