Intellectual property Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Intellectual property Master - Essay Example How far can these innovations be protected from being illegally copied The justification on part of the innovator from stopping its innovations or products from being replicated in some other form needs to be debated both on ethical and moral grounds. This argument is particularly common and debated in the pharmaceutical sector. The scope of such protection covers a gamut of industries, professions and products. We shall restrict the scope of this study to the copyright laws, internet sector and particularly focus on the music industry. Bainbridge (2002) describes intellectual property rights as a form of property that can be dealt with just as with any other property, and which can be assigned, mortgaged and licensed. Intellectual property is property in the legal sense: it is something that can be owned and dealt with. Looking at this definition, as suggested by Bainbridge, one can observe that the properties rights do not just include rights associated with land or buildings or any other assets that carries the physical characteristics of a "land-building" asset form. Intellectual property gives rise to rights and duties. It establishes property rights, which give the owner the right to do certain things in relation to the subject matter. Bainbridge, in his study, supports this argument with an example relating to the music industry - if the right is a copyright and the subject matter is a piece of music, the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to make copies of the sheet music, to make an arrangement of the music and to control the performance of the music unless until he surrenders that right to some music label company. According to the government-backed UK - Intellectual Rights, intellectual property (IP) allows people to own their creativity and innovation in the same way that they can own physical property. The owner of IP can control and be rewarded for its use, and this encourages further innovation and creativity to the benefit of us all.1 It is essential to protect innovations from being illegally copied or pirated. Such guarantee of protection to innovations and inventions will encourage further innovative research and development and also reward entrepreneurs and innovators for their discovery. The protections come in the form of law and legal proceedings. 1.2 Intellectual Property Law. Bently and Sherman (2001) defines intellectual property law as a means to regulate the creation, use and exploitation of mental or creative labour. Intellectual Prop