Andersen, Birgitte --- "Introduction" [2006] ELECD 364; in Andersen, Birgitte (ed), "Intellectual Property Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Intellectual Property Rights

Editor(s): Andersen, Birgitte

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845422691

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Andersen, Birgitte

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

Introduction
Birgitte Andersen

We have experienced a growing importance of intellectual capital and
intangible assets and an increased tendency for firms and public institutions
to privatize, by the use of patents or copyrights, their knowledge assets and
creative expressions. Because control over the use of an intellectual property
right (IPR) requires ownership or a licence, the growing importance of
knowledge-based assets and creative expressions has been accompanied
by recognition that patents and copyrights represent strategic assets for
those who own and control them. It is therefore not surprising that, in
recent years, the pace at which individuals, firms and the public sector are
using IPRs to privatize knowledge-based assets and creative expressions
has been accelerating. This trend has been enhanced by the view of many
in industry, government and international agencies that the privatization
of the intellectual capital and knowledge-based assets of individuals and
firms provides many advantages (for example, competitive advantage), and
we have seen an increased enforcement of IPR regimes worldwide.
At the international DRUID (Danish Research Unit for Industrial
Dynamics) conference on Industrial Dynamics, Innovation and Development,
held at Elsinore, Denmark, 12­14 June 2003, there was a round table
discussion regarding the belief systems underpinning IPRs and the increased
enforcement of IPR regimes worldwide. The fact that IPR policy has been
largely based on the `vision' of policy makers rather than on the findings
of solid empirical research was discussed; and within the IPR research
community, the social and economic effects of tightening ...