With the progress in fields like art, science, technology, media, literature and other creative works, there arose a need to protect unique and distinctive creations from blatant misuse. All these were the creation of a person’s intellect and hence was identified to be protected. With this came the establishment of intellectual property rights. These were the prescribed set of rights given to the inventor of a certain product, or an intangible asset, using which the man can benefit.

The laws governing the rights came to be known as intellectual property laws. It was important to protect the intellectual property because it was an essence in the development of the countries. Countries and economies are dynamic, volatile, and changing every second. Each an every product and service indigenous to a country contributes in a huge way to the growth.

Intellectual property is a primary concern of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and now has become a part of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Earlier trade between countries were just buying and selling of goods but now has been extended to intangible property as well. Hence the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) was introduced.

Jeremy Bentham had proposed the Utilitarian Theory which stated that law should guarantee maximum benefit to the society on the usage of intellectual property. Then came the proposal of Labour theory by John Locke who emphasized on the fact that the person who has put in his labor and effort to develop the entity should be benefited and the natural right upon the entity rests with him.

Then the personality theory had been given by Karl and Hegel that said intellectual property is the mere external extension on one’s acts and thought s in mind. They identified four qualities that would be attributes of intellectual property- privacy, identity, self-realization, benevolence. The last was the social planning theory that was a merger between the society and property rights. It said that all intellectual property should be aimed towards the welfare and betterment of the State and the social welfare was a much broader term as seen from the perspective of intellectual property.

There are broadly two kinds of intellectual property- 1) Copyright and 2) Industrial Property. Industrial Property is further divided into Trademarks, Designs, Patents, Service Marks, layout designs integrated circuits.

In recent times competition law has also come into the picture of intellectual property. The main aim of competition law is to promote free and fair trade in the market and to protect the interests of the consumers. The law prevents the abuse of dominant position by the industry leaders and also prevents gaints from entering into the anti-competitive agreements. Intellectual property laws on the other hand give exclusive rights to the manufacturer and originator but there is a thin line drawn so that the manufacturer does not abuse their given rights.

With the amount of inventions and technological advancement happening, I feel that intellectual property is kind of a game changer in the market. It is an intangible asset that can be multiplied to a large extent and give shape to products and services. With the increasing complexity and creativity, it is justified to bring in laws to protect the owners from infringement. The Trademarks Act, 1999, The Copyright Act,1957, Designs Act 2000, promote these values in the market. All the inventions are to be aimed towards the greater good and betterment of the society and establishment of a welfare state.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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