Intellectual property rights

The benefit of innovation to the national economy is recognized in a special area of law, known as intellectual property rights (IPRs). These legal rights allow people who have good ideas to stop others from stealing them; the ideas can vary from an improvement to an engineering design or a manufacturing process, to a memorable product name. Alternatively, permission to use the ideas may be given in return for payment. Either way further innovations, and investment in developing them, are encouraged. Most countries in the world protect at least some types of innovation in this way. The legal protection is not limited to genius-level ideas. Plain hard work is recognized, and basic but valuable information such as a detailed engineering specification or a small but highly beneficial improvement to a product are covered as well. The relevant laws fall into six categories, each more or less tailored to a different type of innovation. The author discusses: patents; trade marks; copyright; design of articles; and confidential information