Intellectual Property and Its Pervasiveness in Industry Trade and Commerce

What Is Intellectual Property:

Property which comes from the Human Brain and for which Government gives protection is called Intellectual Property Right Trademark, Patent, copyright, geographical location are few examples of Intellectual Property(IP). Intellectual property has gained in prominence in many fields of business in recent times. Today, it is a major asset for many of the world's most powerful companies. The intellectual property of a company is its legally protectable and exploitable invisible assets .It is a sub-set of assets known as  intangibles. The term "intellectual property (IP)" refers to property in a legal sense.

It is something which can be owned and dealt with. The legal rights that give rise to intellectual property are usually referred to as  intellectual property rights . There are several types of IPRs that qualify as intellectual property. The most widely known lP category is patents. Other categories include copyrights, trade marks, design rights, trade secrets and plant breeders' rights. In the emerging knowledge economy, lP has become a critical success factor for most high- It is an Intangible Asset. But the future benefits to be derived is uncertain. Hence valuation cannot be made correctly.

Today, however, developing countries do not have the luxury to take their time over intellectual Property Rights (IPR).  As a part of the trade deal hammered out nine years ago, countries joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) also signed up to TRIPS (trade-related aspects of IPR), which include patents, copyright, trade marks, trade secrets, geographical indicators and such other items. The poor-er countries of the world were given until   to comply in full with the requirements of this treaty.

Tricky Proposition:-

For the last one year, the  WTO council responsible for TRIPS was involved with a tricky proposition . The manufacture and marketing of a patented drug without the patent-holders consent, This provision has been available since the formation of the WTO and Brazil has already used the threat of "compulsory licensing" to ring substantial price discounts out of major patent-holding drug companies.

 This has boon permitted under contain conditions, including national emergencies and can be used by countries such as Brazil or India, which have domestic drug industries to copy the medicines. The problem comes with countries that have no drug makers, They can import generic copies from the likes of India.  when these copying exporting countries are supposed to have fallen in with the TRIPS line?.

The big patent-holding drug firms in rich countries have worried that Indian and other companies might abuse the deal to flood their markets To arrive at a compromise, the TRIPS council of the WTO Issued a declaration just before the Cancun ministerial started ,saying that countries could override patents only  in good faith.

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