7.7B Intellectual property right

• • Intellectual property rights (IPR) = the rights people or companies have over their creations and fall into two categories: -> Industrial property - inventions, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications of origin -> Copyright - literary and artistic works, radio and television programmes, performances
• • TNCs and governments are the main sources of new inventions and brands.
  • Protection of new inventions is important because without it:
  • It would reduce trade as companies would not want to share new inventions with other countries as it would risk the idea being stolen
• -> Industrial property rights falls in two main areas:

  • Protection of distinctive features such as trademarks and also geographical location
  • Champagne can only be produced in a specific region of France
  • Protection of inventions (using patents), industrial designs and trade secrets
  • The recipe of Coca Cola 
• -> It is estimated that every year $300 billion is lost in the US and €43billion in the EU as a result of intellectual property theft

  -> The global value of counterfeit and pirated products is estimated at $1.7 trillion 

  • This is crime against IPR and is illegal