Why Seek Protection For Intellectual Property?

There are a number of questions asked and answered about patents and intellectual property rights but none as fundamental as asking why seek protection for intellectual property? The answer is so simple that it need not even be put across.

What is surprising is the existence of the question itself. What is worth protecting, if not intellectual property? Or put it this way: what deserves protection better than intellectual property?

It is difficult to think for a worthy substitute for intellectual property because intellect is the most important gift that man has. It is not only what makes him produce nice, beautiful and useful things but also lets him survive and retain his position at the apex of the food chain. The finer achievements of human beings have always been intellectual.

Intellectual property, therefore, needs to be protected. All human progress is the result of the application of human intelligence and if the product of the same intellect is not being protected, where are we using, or wasting, our ability to protect?

Patent laws and other intellectual property laws answer the question forcefully enough. Their message is loud and clear: that intellectual property must be protected vigorously and comprehensively because it is the foundation stone for human progress. If protection to intellectual property is not afforded, all human progress would come to a grinding halt.

The importance of intellectual property is what makes the law so strict, the enforcement agencies so prompt and the courts so unforgiving. Using the intellectual property of someone without his permission is stealing of the worst kind because what is being stolen in such cases is the product of highest value because it produced by human intellect.

Intellectual property laws, including patent laws, recognize the moral right of the inventor to decide who uses his product and on what terms. An inventor is perfectly within his rights if he asks for a royalty in exchange of permitting the use of his invention. Intellectual property laws recognize that too.

So, if you are an inventor or an innovator, you need not worry about anything because the law is firmly on your side. You have utmost legal protection. The only thing that you have to establish is that your product is different from all other products and is distinctive. An improvement is not considered to be a distinctive product. So, if your invention passes the test of distinctiveness you would certainly get legal protection against any infringement. It is your right, after all.

The question as to why seek protection for intellectual property is not much of a question. It's just an idle query. If intellectual property is not worth protecting, nothing is. So, don't bother just go on researching.