BASIC CONCEPTS OF IPR

Intellectual property rights are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind, both
artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copy rightlaws, which protect creative works,
such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software, and give the copyright holder
exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
Intellectual property rights includes
• Patents - A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for
a limited period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention. Only non obvious ideas can
be patented.
• Copyrights -Copyright gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time
period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which
time the work is said to enter the public domain. The work for which copy rights are given are
poems, theses, plays, other literary works, movies, dances, musical compositions, audio
recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television and
broadcasts.
Copyright does not cover ideas and information
• Trademarks -is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or
other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark
appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from those of
competitors.

Criticism
The major criticisms against IPR are as follows.
 It creates intellectual monopolies
 It prevents progress as it remains in the hands of an individual or a firm.
 It leads to concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and is detrimental to the masses.