Intellectual Property
The Importance of Intellectual Property
It is common to describe the economical development of the mankind as follows:
In the ancient era the most pivotal assets were the labor power, the slaves;
In the feudal era – these were the real-estate, the lands;
In the trade era – the goods and merchandise; In the industrial era – the machines;
And today, at the global era of information technologies – these are intangible assets or otherwise Intellectual Property.
J. Thorburn & K. Fairbairn Law of Confidential Business Information
The economic and cultural importance of Intellectual Property is increasing rapidly. The fortunes of many businesses today heavily depend on their Intellectual Property rights. A growing percentage of the legal profession specializes in Intellectual Property disputes and lawmakers throughout the world are busily revising their Intellectual Property laws.
William Fisher - Theories of Intellectual Property
Generally speaking, Intellectual Property aims at safeguarding the mental-work products of creators and inventors, by granting them certain, usually time-limited, rights of controlling the use of these products. Intellectual Property does not apply to the physical object in which the creation may be embodied but rather to the intangible intellectual creation as such. Intellectual Property is traditionally divided into two main branches, namely industrial property and copyright; whereas the industrial property branch is typically characterized as consisting of three main arenas - Patents, Trademarks and Industrial Designs.
