Chapter 10: Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

Science is constantly finding new and better things and processes. If one made, for example, a better medicine one would still have the costs of convincing GPs to prescribe it or otherwise get people to take it (see Chapter 8 on marketing) and these costs mean that when the product became well-known and proven, then someone else can start to make it, and they would always be able to make it cheaper because the consumers are already convinced, meaning in turn that (generally speaking) making new and better products would always be economic suicide. Because humans generally want to make progress (as expressed by several metrics like lower child mortality, improved health and life expectancy, etc.), laws have been passed that guarantee certain rights to inventors, etc. In this chapter, we explore what these intellectual property rights (IPRs) are, and how they underpin the value of companies of all sizes and promote technological advancement. The different types of IPRs are introduced and contrasted with trade secrets. The best ways of combining multiple IPRs to protect innovation are also discussed.