Protecting Intellectual Property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Protecting Intellectual Property - Essay Example Copyright gives an owner the exclusive right to the use of his property and it also means that if the protected property is to be used in any form or manner, it would first be necessary to obtain permission from the owner of the copyright. In order to obtain protection for intellectual property, it is necessary to register the property with the appropriate Copyright or patent and trademarks office. In this way, through the acquisition of an Intellectual property right, the owner of the IPR gains the right to the economic exploitation of the product or service, which is in effect, the reward for the IPR holder’s creativity or innovation. The IRP holder may also designate these rights to others and use the third party for the exploitation of the copyright, by way of licenses for specified periods. The copyright system imposes â€Å"ordinary and reasonable† limitations on the creative process, ensuring that the owner of the copyright on a creative work may continue to enjoy that right for a reasonable period of time. (Lessing 2002:613). But on the other side of the coin is the argument that certain products are in the â€Å"public† domain and therefore accessible in the public realm, which may be distinguished from private ownership (Hartley 2002). Generally, a copyright expires after a specific period, before it falls into the public domain, but with the continuous extensions granted to copyright protection, certain creative works are never falling into the public domain and things are shaping up such that very little is left in the world today that is truly original and has not been copyrighted in one form or another. This can be a strong deterrent for the original creator of an innovative work, since he will be unable to compose or create something for which every part is original and never done before. The original purpose of copyright was to grant to the creator of the original work, the protection for his innovation as well as his time and