Abstract
This chapter reveals the overview of intellectual property (IP), the perspectives on intellectual property rights (IPRs), the importance of IP in global business, and the importance of IPRs in global business. IP is an asset category involving four distinct types (i.e., copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets). Many industries rely on the adequate enforcement of their copyrights, trademarks, and patents, while consumers utilize IP to ensure they are purchasing the guaranteed products. IPRs promote the confidence and ease of mind that consumers demand and markets rely on. Enforced IPRs ensure products are authentic, and of the high quality that consumers recognize and expect. The chapter argues that IP stimulates innovation and economic growth, as it helps bring in monetary returns, build brand visibility, and enhance business success in the digital age.
TopBackground
By the early 1990s, global IP standards were built into the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and acquired the status of public international law (Sell, 2003). With the emergence of the free trade doctrine and TRIPS, developing countries were forced into the involuntary tightening of IPRs (Hall, 2007). Developing countries have harmonized and subsequently strengthened their patent regime to comply with the TRIPS agreement (Sharma, 2015). The effect of TRIPS on promoting knowledge diffusion from high-income to developing countries varies by sector (Delgado, Kyle, & McGahan, 2013).
TRIPS makes possible a broad extension of IPR protection (Micara, 2012). Alliances and coalitions are necessary to establish the utilization of policy instruments designed to conform to TRIPS while taking into account local conditions and needs (Chorev & Shadlen, 2015). Concerning IP, the TRIPS Agreement links IP protection to trade issues, providing a venue to manipulate costs and benefits (Jandhyala, 2015). Human rights provide guidance in the negotiation and enforcement of IPRs (Haugen, 2008). Advocates of IPRs endorse convergence toward implementing TRIPS Agreement as a method for promoting innovation, while others support divergence from the global standards in order to encourage the convenient access to resources (Ramanna-Pathak, 2015).