Effective intellectual property laws are crucial for business

A free marketplace offers excellent opportunities for entrepreneurs trying to capitalize on their ideas. But without strong intellectual property laws, this system would quickly become unstable.

Some argue otherwise. For example, in a recent article on Entrepreneur, contributor Erik Telford cites attorney David D'Amato, who believes that governments should make no effort to protect intellectual property, since "ideas are evolutionary." Telford disagrees, however. 

"[I]ntellectual property does not protect ideas—it protects the actual inventions these ideas produce," he points out.

Telford's example is that of the music industry. Thanks to current laws, musicians collect royalties when their songs are played, even though the concept of music itself cannot be protected. If this were not the case, the music industry as we know it—or any music industry at all, really—would have trouble existing.

"IP protection encourages inventors to take risks by ensuring that they will be the first to reap any reward," Telford writes.

In most cases, these risks have been highly positive for the economy as a whole. The Global Intellectual Property Center estimates that intellectual property protection has created millions of jobs and may be responsible for as much as one-third of the nations gross domestic product.

So whether you are a hard-working inventor seeking to make it big in the market, or simply a consumer who is excited to own the latest technological advancements, you should care about the state of intellectual property law. Luckily, a Phoenix business attorney has the experience necessary to guide start up businesses and entrepreneurs on a sustainable path to success.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

This post was written by