Who benefits from intellectual property laws?

Intellectual Property Lawyers in Vietnam

Arora and coauthors (2008) find that patents stimulate R&D across a wide range of manufacturing industries. Moser (2005) finds that countries without patent protection tend to concentrate their innovation in industries where trade secrets are most effective, so patenting spreads out the distribution of innovative activity. However, she also concludes that for developing countries creating a patent system may not be an optimal solution initially.

Generally speaking, IP law favors creators. In most developed nations, it is possible for private litigants to prevail in court when substantive claims are made. There is a long history of cases decided for the "little guy".

Corporate entities may try to stall such proceedings or to overwhelm claimants, but well documented IP rights are often upheld or settled for the benefit of the creator.

Without such laws, we would be awash in a sea of piracy. We would be left only with trade secrets as our sole protection which would make production costs skyrocket, or keep artists and trade entities relatively unknown and mired in litigation.

This is not to say that all use of IP law is fair to creators and consumers. Knowledgable artists will be among the first to point to "public domain" as a key and critical part of IP law which is being usurped by corporations in the USA and possibly globally. Public domain is built on a premise that at some point, creations become a part of the cultural fabric.

The Micky Mouse character known as "Steamboat Willie" is often cited as central to this debate. As the film short was about to enter public domain American copyright protections were extended to protect this Walt Disney property. However a viable argument can and is often made that Disney can protect its interests through Trademark law, while allowing the world access to the original production as a part of global culture through public domain.