Three Reasons To Protect Intellectual Property 

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) defines a patent as a right to “exclude others from inventing, using, offering for sale, or selling a particular invention.” As well, the institution defines a trademark as a “word, name, symbol, or device used in the trade of goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.” For the novel or otherwise uninformed entrepreneur, the thought of utilizing a federal agency to secure a patent grant or trademark registration may seem daunting or perhaps even unnecessary. Official documentation may sound nice, but when it comes to intellectual property, the investment of time, energy, and money begs the question, is it worth it? The answer is a resounding yes, for many important reasons.

Innovation

Logic asserts that protecting intellectual property helps grow innovation. Children get upset when another child reproduces their proud LEGO construction, repeats their new impromptu joke, or copies their science project. The upset child no longer wants to create; they are no longer inspired to try. Without legal protection, entrepreneurs and inventors would also be far less incentivized and inspired to continue creating and innovating. Creatives would have no way to safeguard their creations or ideas, so it stands to reason that innovation would effectively cease. Imagine, then, a world with no new books, music, TV shows, movies, theater productions, video games, or software programs–all things that offer beauty, leverage imagination, and enrich our lives. 

Economic Stability

As the American Bar Association eloquently posits, intellectual property, that is, the inventions, ideas, designs, and creations that are protected by law, is so invaluable to the economy that the founding fathers saw fit to provide protection via the U.S. Constitution. Many economic sectors, including technology, commerce, education, manufacturing, and entertainment would almost certainly cease to advance. Market competition would be completely redefined and entities would be relegated to protecting their intellectual property by any means necessary while pursuing that of others in the same manner. The effect on the economy could be grave. 

National Security

It is important to note that patents and trademarks must be secured in each country; there is no body that governs international matters. However, there are international implications to protecting intellectual property. James Madison, in the Articles of Federation, went so far as to suggest that protecting intellectual property was a matter of national security. As patent protection in the U.S. begets innovation, it also creates job, generates revenue, spawns new revenue streams, and develops competitive advantages that ultimately strengthen the national economy against the rest of the world.