INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) AND MECHANISMS FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION (IPP): A REVIEW

We have experienced a growing importance of intellectual capital and intangible assets and an increased tendency for firms and public institutions to privatize, by the use of patents or copyrights, their knowledge assets and creative expressions. Because control over the use of an intellectual property right (IPR) requires ownership or a licence, the growing importance of knowledge-based assets and creative expressions has been accompanied by recognition that patents and copyrights represent strategic assets for those who own and control them. It is therefore not surprising that, in recent years, the pace at which individuals, firms and the public sector are using IPRs to privatize knowledge-based assets and creative expressions has been accelerating. This trend has been enhanced by the view of many industry, government and international agencies that the privatization of the intellectual capital and knowledge-based assets of individuals and firms provides many advantages (for example, competitive advantage), and we have seen an increased enforcement of IPR regimes worldwide. Protection of undisclosed information is least known to players of IPR and also least talked about, although it is perhaps the most important form of protection for industries, R&D institution and agencies dealing with IPR. Undisclosed information generally known as trade secrets or confidential information includes formula, pattern, compilation, programme, device, method, technique or process. Protection of undisclosed information or trade secret is not really new to humanity; at every stage of development people have evolved methods to keep important information secret, commonly by restricting the knowledge to their family members.