The Importance of Intellectual Property Rights

Who or what is the mother of Invention?

Necessity

What are inventions?

Things considered ORIGINAL WORK:

• machines

• materials

• literary and artistic creations

• programs

• codes

• protocols

• processes

• designs

• symbols

• names

• images

If said “thing” is produced naturally, is it still considered an invention?

NO

How are things invented?

• Scientific Discoveries

• Trial and Error

• Technological Evolution

• Accidental Invention

• The discovery of half life of carbon which eventually lead to the ability or technology of carbon dating

What is this an example of?

Scientific Discoveries

• Light bulb ni Edison

• Agriculture

What are these 2 an example of?

Trial and Error

• The discovery or creation of the Alternating System (based off of the DC system)

What is this an example of?

Technological evolution

• Viagra

  • originally for pain relief but had OTHER side effects

• Post-its

  • wanted to create a super strong adhesive but ended up making a rlly weak one but hey it worked out in the end

What are these 2 examples of?

Accidental Inventions

What are the benefits of monetizing inventions?

• Incentivizes the creator

• Return of Investment

• Pursue more research and inventions

What are Intellectual Property Rights? (IPR)

IPR allow creators to protect their work from being liberally copied by others, which would otherwise remove the benefits

What are some types of IPRs?

• Patents

• Copyright

• Trademarks

• Trade Secrets

• Industrial Design

• Geographical Indicators

What are Patents?

• An exclusive right granted for an invention

• technical info about the invention publicly available in the published patent document

What does a Patent provide?

• the patent owner has the right to decide how or whether the invention can be used, manufactured, and marketed by others

Generally, how long does a Patent last?

17-20 Years

Why is it necessary for a Patent to expire?

• To prevent patent sitting/patent trolling

  • patent trolling - company holds a shit ton of patents and doesn’t use them. they wait for someone to commit an infringement on 1 or more of the patents and thus consequently lead to legal action.

• To avoid monopolizing the patent

  • sleeper patents - patents not being used by the patent holders themselves essentially not allowing others to use the technique or invention. the owner can than commoditize the patent.

• Allows for creative diversity

  • Makes it more accessible for the masses

    • Like the generic meds issue

      • HIV outbreak in South Africa

      • Anthrax outbreak in America

Today, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights have agreed on _____ when it comes to public health?

A member nation of the WTO may issue compulsory licenses to other companies to manufacture drugs, regardless of the patent held by a pharmaceutical company, if public health so dictates

Similarly, it may also authorize parallel importation of drugs from other sources

What the 2 problems that inventors will face if there are no Patents?

• Free Riding Problem

  • every invention is open for copying

    • price of product would tank

    • profit cannot cover production costs

• Secrecy Problem

  • selling to the world the product and not the process in which the product is made

    • the inventor may end up using the least efficient way possible to produce something cause there aren’t any other experts that are able to aid him w/out the knowledge available to them

    • other companies may expend excess resources on R&D to copy said product

What is Copyright?

The rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works

What counts as literary and artistic work for Copyright?

• books

• paintings

• sculpture

• films

• comp. programs

• databases

• advertisements

• maps

• technical drawings

What are Trademarks?

A sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises

What is Trademark Infringement?

When establishments ride on the popularity of certain trademarks

What are ancient examples of Trademarks?

When craftsmen used to put their signature or “mark” on their products

What are Trade Secrets?

Classified info by which a business can obtain an economic advantage

What are examples of Trade Secrets?

can be a formula, instrument, pattern, practice, that is unknown and unattainable

What makes Trade Secrets different from Patents?

• Does not expire and does not publicly disclose information

• thus it is more well protected

What is Industrial Design?

Constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article

What does Industrial Design consist of?

May consist of 3 dimensional features, such as shape or surface of an article or of 2 dimensional features such as patterns, lines or color

What are examples of Industrial Design?

• Coca cola bottle

• iPhone design

• Nike swoosh

What are Geographical Indicators?

• Signs on goods that have a specific geographical origin

  • possess qualities, reputations or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin

What are common examples of Geographical Indicators?

• products with the name of the place

  • Basmati Rice - A name only allowed for rice that comes from India and Pakistan

    • Texas company RiceTec

      • Had multiple patents for “Basmati” despite not cultivating the OG breed

      • Competed with traditional global exporters of Basmati rice aka India and Pakistan

      • India challenged the USPTO, now they took back 16 of their 20 patents and can no longer use the term “Basmati”

  • Pampanga’s Best - an example of NOT cause not all the meat is from Pangpanga

What are alternatives to the classic IPR Protections?

• Copyleft License

• Creative Commons Licenses

What is a Copyleft License?

• Author grants everyone the right to use the distribute and modify their work freely

  • But the derivative should not have a more restrictive copyright protection

    • can sue if it does

What was the Copyleft license mainly created for?

Computer Software but is applicable to docs, music, and art.

What are Creative Commons Licenses?

Licenses granted to authors depending on their needs by the non-profit org Creative Commons

What are examples of Creative Commons Licenses?

NOTE: Authors can be granted one or a combination of the following

• Attribution

  • licensee can

    • distribute

    • make copies

    • display

    • perform

    • modify

    • commercialize

  • just as long as he credits the author

• Non-commercial

  • licensee cannot

    • use work or derivative for commercial purposes

• No Derivative Work

  • licensee can

    • distribute

    • copy

    • perform

  • just as long as he does not modify it or create derivatives

• Share-alike

  • licensee can

    • produce

    • distribute

  • derivatives, just as long as it is identical

What are some IPR Issues?

• The Case of Henrietta Lacks

• Biopiracy and Traditional Knowledge

  • Biopiracy

    • The patenting (mostly done by the West) of exclusive plants and other organisms that have been widely used by indigenous people in LDCs

  • Traditional Knowledge

    • When foreign multinational corporations hold a patent on traditional knowledge on healing/medicine or in agriculture

    • LDCs just want control over the access to the transmission and exploitation of their OWN knowledge