What Is IPR (Intellectual Property Right)?

International property rights (IPR) have become so important globally that a major effort was made in 2006 and 2007 to prepare an index or way of measuring the status of IPR in various countries around the world. This report focuses on rights to personal property and ideas as they relate to the economic status of individuals and groups that stand to gain from control of those rights.

IPR might best be understood if we understand the three pieces of this puzzle. The word “international” refers to all nations and all citizens around the globe. This definition would mean that property rights should be recognized and protected without regard to national boundaries or laws in individual countries.

The word “property” can be applied to many things, both physical property such as homes, businesses, land and vehicles, as well as to intellectual property such as patented ideas and copyrighted products and services.

Rights basically entitle someone or some organization to do a certain things, act a certain way or reap benefits from a particular action or product. For instance, people have the right to speak as they wish, as long as this doesn’t harm or interfere with someone else.

So, international property rights give an individual or organization the control over specific property and the right to expect benefits from use of that product, service or piece of property.

While this is a rather straightforward definition, the issue is far from settled. Some people have actually questioned whether international property rights actually exist. For many in the legal field, property rights are based on the laws, rules and regulations of individual countries. But this legal question gets a bit blurry when corporations and individuals move products, services and ideas across national borders and expect the same protections they get from their home country.

Among the areas considered under the international property rights umbrella include patents, trademarks, industrial and commercial designs, copyrights and similar items. The International Property Rights Index report based on a study conducted by Alexandra Horst states that an extra-legal economy and its rules must sometimes be used to provide legal protection that they may not have even in their own country.

Within a country, society can show approval and support of the holder of property rights using administered force from the central government. This basic protection is not present in a widely recognized form around the world. There are some common legal grounds that cross national borders but these do not always pertain to the subject of international property rights.

Traditional legal decisions, such as those from the U.S. Supreme Court, concern the right of the owner or creator to exchange the property on terms that are agreeable to both parties. When differences from country to country bring questions into these legal discussions that didn’t exist within national borders, sometimes there is no legal framework to address the issues. Rapid growth of international commerce and the complexity of intellectual property such as computer technology and ideas has made such a framework crucial, in the eyes of many legal experts.

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