From Ownership to Innovation: Exploring the Legal Dimensions of Intellectual Property

Every individual occupies the material objects in their human life. The material objects might be living or non-living, tangible or intangible, movable or immovable. It can be the subject matter of the property. The things belonging to a person becomes property. The rights given on the things which the one owns comes in the ambit of property.

Bentham describes property as, “The property includes nothing more than corporeal property i.e. ownership of material objects alone.”

According to Salmond, “the substantive civil law, divisible mainly into; Law of property, and Law of obligations and law of status. The law of property deals with the right is rem, law of obligations deals with right in personam and the third law of status deals with the personal or non-proprietary rights”. 

Property is traditionally defined as a legal right that allows individuals or entities to possess, use, and dispose of things. “The term ‘property’ also includes within it, goodwill of a business, which is an intangible asset. It includes not only immovable and movable object, but also patents, copyrights, shares, claims etc”. 

The Intellectual Property rights are the one which come under the ambit of law of property. Intellectual Property is also one of the forms of property having jurisprudential aspect within itself. The intellectual property comes within the scope of intangible form of property which is created one’s human intellect.  Intellectual property is a word that provides protection to away human mind creativity and few pieces of it and it is one of the branches of law. Laws plays a very vital and vibrant role in increasing the economic values of nations. The central purpose of the Intellectual Property is to motivate, stimulate the innovation and protect very same. In addition to the rights of the creator; the innovations and creativity of the human mind is necessary to protect. The Intellectual property works in the case of the intangible form of property whichmust be in fixed form. The intellectual property protects only the expression of the idea, not the idea.

There are various domains of intellectual property with wide scope of work which includes the Copyright, Patent, Trademark, Industrial Design, Geographical Indications and Semiconductor and Integrated circuits.

Intellectual Property Rights is one of the legal branches which provides laws, rules and regulations for the creations and innovations. The Authority provides for the proper implementation of the IP Laws. The IP Laws provide monopoly over the intellectual property with all the exclusive rights and liberties over the property. The production, its utilization, reproduction and its usage are totally dependent on the creator itself.

IPR plays pivot role for motivating the inventions and its utility for the economic growth the inventor. The usage of the invention through various means helps to promote the inventions and helps to motive for further research and development. The promotion of the invention helps the creator to distribute the knowledge regarding the invention by protecting the invention under the IP laws. The society will have the benefit of the invention with the dissemination of the knowledge and cultural work. 6 The Commercialization of the Intellectual Property helps the inventors to the gain some economic profit which thereafter turned into established business. The creative works like the literary work or compositions, the art and craft along with the stone work, the designs for every single thing to be given to the object along with the coding of the program be protected under the ambit of the Intellectual Property. The business approach for the intellectual property includes the licensing, assigning or adapting the work to commercialize it. And the scope for commercialization comes the old roots of the system to get benefit to the society as well.

In Society as the technology advances, the property gets pirated by the various companies either national or international. The national – international piracy should be protected with the laws and IP make it easier to protect the Invention within the territory or beyond the territory. The treaties, conventions and agreements relating to IP helps to deal with the IP products. 

As the Intellectual Property (IP), one of the main objectives is to grant legal rights to individuals or legal entities over their creations of the human intellect, such as inventions, literary works, artistic work, musical works, designs, logos and symbols. 8 The concept of IP is deeply rooted in Indian jurisprudence, balancing the protection of innovators' rights with public access to knowledge. Various legal frameworks, both national and international, govern IP rights, ensuring innovation while addressing ethical and economic considerations. 

REFERENCES

1. Paranjape, N.V., Studies in Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, (Central Law Agency, 10th ed. 2020).

2. Strictly Legal, "Legal Updates and Case Laws on Intellectual Property," available at https://strictlylegal.in, accessed on 2024-12-27.

3. V.D. Mahajan, Jurisprudence and Legal Theory (6th ed. 2022).

4. Intellectual Property and Freedom of Expression: A Tense Relationship, available at: https://www.europedeslibertes.eu/article/intellectual-property-and-freedom-of-expression-a-tense-relationship/

5.  Kanchankumar Tejram Shewale, Commercialization of Intellectual Property Rights: A Comprehensive Review

and Implications, 1(2) IPR J. Maharashtra Nat'l L. Univ. Nagpur 56–76 (2023), available at: https://www.nlunagpur.ac.in/PDF/Publications/CI-Dec-2023/5.Kanchankumar%20Tejram%20Shewale.pdf

6. World Trade Organization (WTO), "Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights," Brill (2009), available at https://www.wto.org.