What Has Changed In The IP Over The Last 50 Years? - The Accelerated Synchronization of The World
The intellectual property (IP) firm Inventa completed 50 years. With regard to this celebration, we set out to observe what has changed in the IP in the last five decades. Intellectual property is a field of the legal system that regulates the use of intellectual assets. IP rules provide that various intellectual assets may be subject to intellectual property rights. Artistic work can be the object of copyright, a mark can be the object of a trademark right, an invention can be the object of a patent right and the design of a product can be the object of design rights. These rights essentially consist in the holder being able to use those assets exclusively, for a period of time.
The legal system regulates almost all situations with legal relevance. However, as situations evolve, the legal system sometimes needs to adapt. The world has changed a lot in the last 50 years, so the legal system and, in particular, IP rules, have also changed.
Globalization and international trade have intensified. This fact collided with one of the IP principles, which is territoriality. In almost every country, IP rights are territorial. This means, for example, that a patent granted for an invention in a certain country gives its holder a right to exclusively use that invention only in that country. If that holder is interested in marketing the product with exclusivity in other countries, a patent will have to be obtained in each of those other countries. It is evident that this principle of territoriality, which still exists, is an obstacle to the internationalization of protection. So were the differences in national legislation. Consequently, international treaties emerged with the purpose of facilitating internationalization and bringing national legislation closer together.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) database, there are 208 international treaties that regulate matters related to IP. Of these 208 treaties, 48 were adopted before 1970, and the remaining 160 were adopted after that date.
The chart below shows that the growth in the number of treaties was accentuated in recent decades, especially in 1990 and 2000.
What has changed in the IP over the last 50 years? - The accelerated synchronization of the world What Has Changed In The IP Over The Last 50 Years? - The Accelerated Synchronization of The World Read the full IIPLA blog post: https://iipla.org/blog/what-has-changed-in-the-ip-over-the-last-50-years-the-accelerated-synchronization-of-the-world-inventa