Some Thoughts on Intellectual Property Rights

(Of what I know and what I don't)

DEFINITIONS:

Patent

Applies to new invention. Having a patent allows the inventor to ‘exploit’ his/her work for some period (I’m not sure if it’s 10 or 20 years).

Industrial Design

Right to own unique patterns or designs i.e. handicrafts. I guess this one is renewable for 15 years.

Trade Mark

Applies to a company's line of products or company's logo. This distinguishes the quality and standards set to the products.

Copyright

An automatic right given to any published work of art (music, literature, research papers) - but it's better to have your works deposited at the National Library or Supreme Court.

THOUGHTS

IPR, PATENT, INVENTIONS

• Advantage: I find IPR crucial to inventions more than any other intellectual properties. It has helped a lot of Filipino inventors. Like for example, the inventor of KARAOKE.
• Disadvantage: Unless the inventor has the money to have his/her work patented, that’s the only time he/she will be protected. I guess, indigenous inventions must be supported by the government beyond encouraging the inventors to have their works patented.
• I don’ think industries will grow by simply telling the scientists to protect their ownership. Most often, Filipino inventors lack support from the government resulting to selling the ownership of their creations to private institutions and government of other countries.
• Conclusion: While implementing rules about ownership of inventions, government must seek ways to improve its support to Filipino inventors. The government can source funds from other agencies (ODA)

COPYRIGHT

• Does this part of the law prohibit reproduction of published materials? If that’s the case, this should be discarded. I guess, the scope of “reproduction of published materials” must be qualified. Maybe it shouldn’t cover reproduction intended for “studies” (must be qualified also). If the reproduction was intended for re-sale, I guess that’s the time penalties be imposed.
• Isn’t it that knowledge should be shared to all?
• Copyright should be more focused on stealing through plagiarism rather than reproduction of materials.
• So, this also applies for Music? I think that the coverage of music should not communicate the sole idea of piracy. I don’t think piracy involves stealing, not at all. It would only entail stealing if someone used a composer’s music claiming that he/she is the one who created the song. That’s where copyright should come and not in piracy.