Question
One of the Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics is ‘Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output’.
Please discuss the challenges involving IPR (Intellectual Property Right) that organisations need to combat in the digital world. Use specific legal case examples involving IPR and discuss their outcomes and implications in revising the IPR laws.
Answer
Introduction: A person is granted intellectual property rights (IPR) over their creations. In essence, the creator receives an exclusive right to use, exploit, and profit from his product. Intellectual property (IP) rights are meant to encourage creation and the advantages gained from its use in the creator's favour. These rights have moral as well as monetary worth. It is also referred to as monopoly rights of exploitation and has a constrained age range, geographic reach, and duration [4].
IP rights are divided into two groups: industrial property and copyright.
Books, music compositions, paintings, sculptures, poems, films, computer programmes, and other artistic creations are all covered by copyright. These are all covered by copyright for a period of 50 years following the creator's demise. Additionally, "neighbouring" rights, such as those of actors, musicians, singers, and phonogram makers as well as broadcasting organisations, are included in this category. The basic goals of the copyright are to protect the owners and compensate the creators for their ingenuity.
Industrial property is defined as the defence of distinguishing trademarks, monograms, signs, logos, and other identifiers that set one company's goods and services apart from another. Patents, trade secrets, and industrial designs are examples of other types of industrial rights [7].
Identifying the main IPR concerns or issues
Lyrics, music compositions, sculptures, paintings, designs, literary works, and other works of art are examples of intellectual property. These works of art can be purchased, sold, or licenced just like any other tangible property. IPR grants the creator the right to profit financially from his creations. The protection of intellectual property is now essential for large corporations investing. Ideas and knowledge are gaining tremendous traction, and many items and commodities that were formerly sold as low-value commodities or goods have improved in reputation due to their innovative design [1]. Because they carry an identity, today's movies, biotech products, online services, apparel, music, books, and computer software can all be purchased and sold with ease.
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), an agreement on intellectual property regulations in the global trading system, were developed by the WTO in response to shifting business patterns and went into force on January 1, 1995. The standards, enforcement, and dispute resolution are its three key components, making it the most comprehensive multinational IP agreement. IP is given substantial protection under the TRIPS agreement [3].
The rapid and dramatic advancement of technology is causing subtle and complex problems, such as the development of satellite broadcasting, which is relatively extremely inexpensive and therefore cannot be protected by a patent or copyright. Without permission, those who broadcast it retransmit it to other cable systems for profit. These measures make copyright less legitimate and make it harder to appropriate.
The same problem arises when proprietary material, such as data, is transmitted electronically, especially when using electronic devices. Given the number of users and utilisation of inexpensive telecommunication networks, IP rights are practical but very expensive in these scenarios [6]. Information technology is particularly susceptible to widespread and inexpensive copying, which is creating concerns about international intellectual property rights.
Analysis of Issues Regarding Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property theory has not piqued the interest of many philosophers. The notion of utilitarianism is essentially the main idea used to explain utilitarian inventions. The development of IPR is encouraged by utilitarian theorists because it fosters innovation. This utilitarian philosophy has served as the foundation for US copyright legislation [4]. For a specific amount of time, the innovator is granted an exclusive privilege through the use of copyright, patents, trade marks, design patents, etc. There are many different ways to secure intellectual property, and each one has a different level of protection [2]. The non-utilitarian theories, on the other hand, highlight that the creator has a moral obligation to defend his creations.
Digitalization has had a significant impact on IPR. Technologies that make peer-to-peer networks, file sharing, digital conversion for mass consumption, and other activities on fast, affordable internet connections are proliferating at an enormous rate. Numerous unauthorised copies have been distributed thanks to technical tools [8]. The film, music, and software industries are particularly affected by this problem and are continually looking for different technical and legal solutions to combat this digital piracy. The music and film industries have been rattled by digital piracy. Mass copying without compromising the copyrighted content is possible with high-density digital copying. Peer-to-peer sharing among many users transforms the majority of unlicensed copyright material.
A wide range of technical solutions are being developed to combat digital piracy to prevent copy control, limitations on file sharing, file control, saving, printing, etc. Digital piracy is being prevented by using encryption, electronic watermarking, tagging, flagging, and other methods [5]. All of these copy safeguards are built into the device's operating system, hardware, or software. The music and film industries are promoting piracy filters in Internet service providers to screen or identify the pirated digital content.
Recommendations: IP protection is a fundamental right in democratic economies and communities. Without a doubt, IPR encourages discovery and innovation and must be upheld. It is clear that IPR can encourage research and allow people the flexibility to profit from their innovations. IPR has various advantages, including preventing plagiarism and preventing others from utilising it. It also supports strategies for generating cash and permits unrestricted entry into a cutthroat market. Your personal or business intellectual property, whether it be a copyright, patent, insider knowledge, or trade secret, is more valuable than any tangible assets you may have.
Piracy and counterfeiting are widespread and will remain so notwithstanding the provisions for intellectual property. Therefore, to address the piracy issues, proactive solutions and useful advice are required. Analytical investigations show that each individual must come up with their unique method of IP protection. Every organisation relies on its intellectual property (IP), and if this is stolen, it is impossible to recover the stolen data and it is tough to prosecute the offenders. Therefore, it is crucial to safeguard intellectual property.
Several suggestions comprise:
• Become a member of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, which improves government cooperation efforts to combat counterfeiting both domestically and overseas. Additionally, it safeguards the IP investments from trafficking, illicit dissemination, and copyrighted material copying.
Developing and maintaining a strong IP portfolio; working with IP attorneys with specialised knowledge.
Protection of intelligence property is now required. The biggest inventors in the world, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, are spending billions of dollars to safeguard and defend their intellectual property.
Conclusion: Laws and intellectual property rights are intended to foster innovation and the free exchange of ideas while also benefiting the owner. The result of mental activity, intellectual property is an intangible asset. By submitting fresh copyright or patent applications, obtaining new licences, and adding value in a variety of inventive ways, the company must continually strengthen its IP portfolio. IP is at risk on a daily basis in the current environment. Digitalization has led to an increase in cyber piracy. The movie, music, and pharmaceutical industries are now targets of copying and piracy. The creation of a statutory framework is necessary to safeguard intellectual property rights. Australia has well-developed regulations that safeguard both private and corporate intellectual property.
References
[1] P. E. Chaudhry, “Protecting your intellectual property rights,” Business Horizons, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 131–133, 2013.
[2] S. Kinsella, “The case against intellectual property,” in Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics, 2013, pp. 1325–1357.
[3] A. O. Laplume, S. Pathak, and E. Xavier-Oliveira, “The politics of intellectual property rights regimes: An empirical study of new technology use in entrepreneurship,” Technovation, vol. 34, no. 12, pp. 807–816, 2014.
[4] A. C. Chu, G. Cozzi, and S. Galli, “Stage-dependent intellectual property rights,” J. Dev. Econ., vol. 106, pp. 239–249, 2014.
[5] N. Chaudhari and V. Baliga, “Intellectual Property RIghts,” Unesco, 2015.
[6] A. Gosseries, A. Marciano, and A. Strowel, Intellectual property and theories of justice. 2008.
[7] S. Pathmasiri, M. Deschênes, Y. Joly, T. Mrejen, F. Hemmings, and B. M. Knoppers, “Intellectual property rights in publicly funded biobanks: Much ado about nothing?,” Nat. Biotechnol., vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 319–323, 2011.
[8] L. Ilie, “Intellectual Property Rights: An Economic Approach,” Procedia Econ. Financ., vol. 16, pp. 548–552, 2014.