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It is a well-worn phrase to say that we live and work in the information age. To a large extent, this means that today the most valuable assets of businesses and the economic fuel driving the economy is information. But who owns the information? This question is at the heart of many political and societal debates over privacy rights, control of personal information, and consumer behavior tracking, etc. These debates often turn on who owns, and therefore who can control, such information.
The information driving our modern economy encompasses more than just personal data and the exploitation of such information. Our economy is fueled by the works of creation of individuals including inventions, writings, photographs, computer programs, songs, movies, and human creative thought recorded in tangible media. Protections for such information are provided by patent, copyright and trade secret laws. Reputational information is protected by trademark laws. Broadly speaking, intellectual property encompasses all forms of human knowledge and works of creation. But even this definition falls short in the information age, as intellectual property now encompasses “big data” and information gathered and stored by computers in the normal course of business. Thus, it can be argued that the information age is really the intellectual property age.
This blog is all about intellectual property: what it is; how to protect it; and what to do with it once you own it. This blog will begin by explaining the traditional forms of intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and technical know-how. Later articles will explore more recent forms of intellectual property, including personal information, large data bases, and medical records.
Intellectual property is important to everyone who makes their living through intellectual labor, including engineers, scientists, authors, artists and entrepreneurs, because much of the value of their work results in or is protected by patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and technical know-how. Without laws to protect the fruits of intellectual creativity, people and companies would not receive fair remuneration for their efforts and expertise.
Intellectual property laws provide the economic foundations supporting startup companies and multinational corporations. Intellectual property laws provide incentives for the investments required to develop new products, conceive new inventions or discover new phenomenon. Without the legal protections afforded by patent, copyright, trade secret and similar intellectual property laws, investments in intellectual labor could be simply copied by others, eliminating the competitive advantage of creative efforts. Without protections to prevent freeriding on the intellectual labors of others, companies and institutions could never recover their investments in developing new products and creating new technologies, let alone properly compensate those who contributed their intellectual labor.
Economic interests in intellectual property are not limited to for-profit companies. Private and public institutions of research and education derive substantial revenues from the licensing, sales or other exploitation of the intellectual accomplishments of their employees. Even not-for-profit organizations typically have a strong economic interest in protecting the intellectual property created by their employees.
Intellectual property protections are also important to national economies. Without economic incentives to create, research and invent that are provided by intellectual property laws, citizens would spend their time on other pursuits. Over time such a nation’s economy would stagnate, with national wealth limited to the value of its natural resources and the manual labor of its people.
This economic view of intellectual property is now widely accepted by countries around the world. Most countries have adopted intellectual property laws to protect the intellectual creations of their engineers and scientists, as well as the creations of their artists, authors, and musicians. As a result, the laws underpinning intellectual property are remarkably consistent across the globe. Countries with diverse cultures and different political systems have largely agreed on relatively uniform patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark protections. Global treaties reconciling intellectual property laws and streamlining the processes for obtaining patents and trademarks have been implemented and form a foundation of intellectual property protections in many countries.
In short, the creation of patents and copyrights, trade secrets and industrial know-how, are how engineers, scientists, authors, designers, programmers and artists create the economic value that provides their incomes. Generally speaking, those who create more intellectual property will earn more money. Thus, everyone has an interest in ensuring all of their intellectual creations are properly protected in one or more form of intellectual property or another.
