Competition and intellectual property

Copyright protects the form of an original expressive work (literary, artistic or technical). The patent protects original solutions or ideas, and the registered trademark protects the way of identifying a manufacturer or other reputable source.

These rights can be ceded, rented (licensed), sometimes even used as collateral, similar to a real property. However, these rights have specific limitations, such as time limitations. There are substantial differences from the classical property; the consumption of classical property is exclusive – if one eats an apple, no one else can eat it. In the case of intangibles, this does not happen – a book can be multiplied in any number of copies without affecting any reader. Intellectual property rights are granted by the state in order to encourage such intangible creations. In case of violation of these rights the owner can take legal action.

The main purpose of intellectual property rights is to encourage the creation of a wide variety of intellectual property. To achieve this, the law gives individuals and businesses property rights over the information and intellectual property they create, usually for a limited period of time. This provides economic incentives for their creation, as it allows people to take advantage of the information and intellectual property they create. The innovations contribute to the technological progress of the countries.

The current state of affairs in the field is disputed in some developing countries due to the drainage of internal resources by the industrialized states through intellectual property. The United States and the United Kingdom are the only states that have a consistent net income from intellectual property; they are the main promoters of strengthening these rights internationally.