Display Rights

+44 1908 041290

               

Why Intellectual Property Rights Matter

People own the fruits of their labour ...

POSTED BY DISPLAYRIGHTS ON 28/10/2021 @ 8:00AM

We have spoken about copyright and the law, but what about why these laws and rights matter? There are several justifications for Intellectual Property rights. This is a non-extensive list of why many believe copyright protection to be important ...

The major justification for Intellectual Property is John Lockes' Labour Desert Theory!

The major justification for Intellectual Property is John Lockes' Labour Desert Theory!

copyright: alfaphoto / 123rf


Copyright and Intellectual Property underpins of the whole western world economy. There is a need to provide incentives and dissemination for creative works. Think about the vaccine and COVID-19 ... without protections and incentives, the number of people trying to make a vaccine would be significantly less.

  • The indented beneficiary for the copyright system is the community as a whole, which demands the production of and access to, as many creative works as possible

  • There is an incentive to produce, as selling price allows them to recoup the cost of production and the benefit of the goods to a purchaser

  • However, creative works are held to be 'public goods' as it is hard to exclude non-purchasers from the enjoyment. The advantages of the copyright system are said to outweigh those losses

The problem with the economic justification of copyright is that there is much that can be produced and disseminated without incentive.

It is difficult to structure copyright such that the monopoly losses associated with the regime are no greater than those required to ensure production and dissemination of a given category of work, especially given the wide range of the subject matter that copyright protects

Copyright law is often enacted and implemented with the purpose of incentivising the creation of new works for public use. In exchange for the creation of new works, the government gives the author a limited monopoly over that work for a finite period of time, after which point it can be used and enjoyed by the public.

There must be an "appropriate balance between copyright protection, limitations and exceptions to copyright" Arguably, copyright should only be as strong as is actually necessary to incentivize the creation of works, and during the term of copyright limitations and exceptions to copyright should be used to serve the public interest.

Many economists believe that, in the absence of intellectual property protections such as copyright and patents, various types of intangible assets would be under-produced, because there would be insufficient incentives for commercial organisations to produce them.

From this perspective, the objective of copyright law is primarily to balance the public benefits that can arise from the widespread circulation, use and reuse of a copyrighted work with the need to provide protection, incentive and reward to the creator or owner of the copyright by granting a limited monopoly to exploit the copyright to that body or individual.

"And when it comes to Intellectual Property, there is a deontological justification!"

The major justification for Intellectual Property is John Lockes' Labour Desert Theory. In short, it is this: "People own themselves, and derived from this they also own the fruits of their labour, as otherwise, they would still be slaves."

This means that creating or inventing things can be considered labour. And therefore works of the intellect are property, just like the goods manufactured by a workman. This justification is what philosophers would call a deontological justification. It is a rights-based approach.

Copyright and Intellectual Property go hand in hand all around the world. This is why proper licensing protects both businesses and individuals from possible litigation.

Until next time ...




THE DISPLAYRIGHTS TEAM

 
 


Would you like to know more?

If anything I've written in this blog post resonates with you and you'd like to discover more about copyright, intellectual property and licensing, click here to get in touch with us or leave a comment below and let's see how we can help.

You can also visit our website at www.displayrights.com.

Share the blog love ...

Google AMP  /  Précis  

Share this to FacebookShare this to TwitterShare this to LinkedInShare this to PinterestShare this via Buffer

#IntellectionProperty #IP #Copyright #UK

About DisplayRights ...

 

In 2003, DisplayRights, formally known as Executive Interviews, recognised the rising demand for online video, specifically in the corporate sector, and relaunched itself as a company focused on the recording, repackaging, and rights distribution of television and radio news interviews. Since then, DisplayRights has expanded to become a full-service, global company recording over 150,000 interviews and news clips annually. DisplayRights is headquartered in the UK, with wholly-owned subsidiaries in the United States and Asia.

As the needs of our clients change, so do we! We have now fully rebranded to DisplayRights to better reflect what we do, which now includes talks and presentations as well as executive interviews. We hope that our new brand can better serve how our content partners and clients want to work with us.

We are proudly partnered with the world's leading business news networks, providing their guests with timely, professionally-produced, and fully licensed video clips to post to their public websites or corporate Intranets, use at trade shows, investor conferences, corporate meetings, and more.

In addition, we now offer registered access to more than 16,000 thought leadership videos from leading educational networks which can be accessed free of charge by anyone, helping them learn, grow and thrive.

Telephone:

+44 1908 041290

Website:

https://www.displayrights.com