Copyright Law Protects Functional Products, Processes, And...

Introduction â€Å"Intellectual Property†(IP) provides an intangible property rights protecting a product or creations, and regulates the uses of different sorts of ideas and insignia such as industrial design, literature, and artistic works inclusive of symbols, names and images. It is enforced by means of patented inventions, copyrights and trademarks where each protects distinct subject matter and promotes a unique social goal. Patent law protects functional products, processes and designs. The inventions must be new, useful, and non obvious to a person skilled in the relevant art. Copyright law protect expressive works where it has to be original, incrementally creative, and fixed in a tangible medium of expression.†¦show more content†¦During this time, some European countries managed without any patent law. Arguably, the first modern patent law is the 1836 United States Patent Act which enforced that all applications had to be examined by the government pate nt office for novelty and usefulness in a non-discriminatorily manner. Similar examination system is the German Patent Act of 1887 . As adopted by most countries, invention that is considered against to public order or ethics can be exclude, such as prohibiting the patenting of inventions concerning luxuries, medicines, articles of food, or chemical products. Historically, copyright’s originated during Renaissance in Italy. But, the English Statute of Anne of 1710 is the most famous early copyright law and seen as the origin of the copyright law. It provides statutory protection in books and other writing as it explicitly introduced the concept of an author being the owner of the copyright. Designs and Trademarks are new categories of intellectual property law and are subjected to more recent statutory protection. Types of Theory There are many theories, arguments or justification available for Intellectual Property rights. However, five basic arguments can be use namely natural rights arguments, reward arguments, incentive arguments, neoliberal economics and arguments from democracy. This essay will focus on the natural rights arguments. Natural Rights