How do companies try to protect their intellectual property, and why is this important?
Intellectual property does not only mean providing that your innovations will not be copied. It builds the incentive such that what you develop can benefit more individuals in the absence of violation of your rights. Companies protect intellectual property by registering their trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Intellectual property can also be protected through registering business, domain names, and products. Companies may also create non-disclosure, confidentiality, or licensing contracts for partners and employees and implementing security measures. The protection of the intellectual property is crucial to encouraging innovation. In the absence of idea protection, individuals and business would gain the full benefits of their respective inventions, and they would ultimately focus less on research and development (Boone, Kurtz & Berston, 2017).
Identify and summarize one or more existing laws that protect intellectual property.
The Copyright Act in the United States serves in the prevention of unauthorized copying of the work of authorship. The law protects original creative works, including writing, painting, software, movies, and music. The work has to fulfill certain minimum requirements to be placed under copyright protection. Protection length is also dependent on when it was first published or created.
References
Boone, L. E., Kurtz, D. L., & Berston, S. (2017). Contemporary business (17th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.