Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to ownership over an idea or concept often manifested in the creation of innovated technologies but does not necessarily refer to physical property. Examples of intangible items deemed as IP include, but are not limited to, music, software, paintings, slogans, as well as inventions.

Definition

IP can be protected under the law. This means there are a number of intellectual property rights that enable owners to limit the use or interpretations of his IP. These protections come in the form of a patent, copyrights, and trademarks among other policies.

IP has been argued as an “increasingly important aspect of societal governance as developments and innovations become more or fully dependent on technologies” as these productions of new systems are often intangible or attributed to intellectual thinking.

Intellectual Property versus Physical Property

Intellectual Property differs from Physical Property due to the nature of how it is accessed and utilized. This has implications for defining terms under which IP can be protected.

2 Major distinctions between IP and physical property are made by Information Philosopher and Professor, Luciano Floridi:

1. IP has no limitations on reproducibility. Unlike physical property where there is are constraints to how copies of a property exists, IP is virtually limitless. An example of this a song. An artist considers a new song he creates to be his IP but any number of individuals can play this song and reproduce the same chord progressions on their own instruments.

2. IP can be used simultaneously by multiple people. The point at which it is deemed immoral and illegal to use someone else’s physical property without permission is when that property has to be physically taken away from its rightful owner, depriving the owner of using it. With IP the authorized and the unauthorized user can have access to the property at the same time (i.e. downloading software for free).

Due to this differentiation between IP and PP, an augmented legal structure for the protection of IP is necessary.

History

The concept of IP dates back as far as 500 BCE, "when chefs in the Greek colony of Sybaris were granted year-long monopolies for creating particular culinary delights". Two more examples of IP occurred in Roman times but were not common occurrences for this era.

The English system of IP rights was instituted starting as early as 1624 with the "Statute of Monopolies". The American system of IP rights is based off of the English system. Another significant statute in English IP law is "The Statue of Anne (1710)"

Importance of IP

Notable driving factors for the “coining” of IP relate back to John Locke’s original conceptualization of property in his Second Treatise. Locke explains that the value placed on an object is dependent on the existence of a society. Within modern society IP is valued because of its contribution to societal progress.

Consensus on the importance for IP resides in incentivizing innovation so that utility is maximized and inventors are rewarded for their efforts.

References

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intellectual-property/#HisIntPro