Meaning

Intellectual Property Rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to the protection of creations of the mind, which have both a moral and a commercial value.

Description
IP confers on individuals, enterprises or other entities the right to exclude others from the use of their creations. Consequently, intellectual property rights (IPRs) may have a direct and substantial impact on industry and trade as the owner of an IPR may – through the enforcement of such a right – prevent the manufacture, use or sale of a product which incorporates the IPR.

IP is an intangible asset to a company. It gives business partners and financial institutions the confidence to invest in or collaborate with the organisation. In addition to protecting their creation, business owners can maximise the value of their IPs in many ways. They can franchise, license out or transact their IP.

Intellectual property rights include copyright, patent, trademark, geographic indication of origin, industrial design, trade secrets, database protection laws, publicity rights laws, laws for the protection of plant varieties, laws for the protection of semi-conductor chips (which store information for later retrieval), etc.

Why opt for IPR

Prevents counterfeiting: A novel and attractive product could be copied, produced and commercialized as an imitation or counterfeit of the original product. IP Rights help you stops those counterfeited product at the boarder by means of effective customs legal actions, based in those original IP rights.
Avoids Infringement: Even though one chooses not to protect his product or service, that product / service name and or technology, could be infringing some else’s IP Right, which could end in law suits and the payment of heavy damages to the other party.
Ensures availability of geunine and original products to users
Entry Barriers: IP Rights help a business to generate entry barriers, capturing the value one creates to consumers, in a given market.
Serves as an instrument of social, cultural, economic and technological development
IPR protection acts as an incentive to human creativity
Encourage significant economic growth
Encourages individuals to develop new creations and innovations
A name or brand conveys all the “goodwill” of your product or service; A Trademark holds that Goodwill and leads consumers to your original product or service
Avoids Free-riding, competitors could “free ride” on unprotected successful brands, attracting your original consumers to their non-original products or services