Cyber Law And Intellectual Property Essay

Everybody is at liberty to any start any business provided its operations are conducted within the provisions of the law. The cyber law is useful for addressing legal issues that may arise in the use of software, communication technologies or the internet. Intellectual property entails legal provisions on the express rights of owners of certain products of creativity or invention. IP law, for example, gives express rights to owners of designs/symbols, technological inventions and artistic works. Patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights constitute the subcategories of the IP law. All these laws are pertinent to ethical business operations, and one must understand them to avoid infringement penalties.
Copyrights focus on giving the creator of an original piece of work such as software barcode exclusive rights. These laws are useful in protecting the publication of inventions to incentivize dissemination and creation of such works. Copyrights only cover tangible products and exclude ideas and thoughts. The new software, for example, must be registered with the copyrights office to avoid infringement.
A trademark refers to a design, phrase, word or symbol, which distinguishes and identifies the source of products of one party from those of the other party. Trademarks are pertinent to helping consumers identify the source of goods and prevent any confusion between any two products. Trademarks may allow for the production of similar goods but prevents marketing of a good with a mark that can potentially confuse customers from identifying the original item. Similarly, trade secrets help companies to keep the economically beneficial information confidential. With no formal way of protecting a trade secret, it is inconsequential for someone to use such secrets once they are publicized.
As inventors of software, for example, owners need to acquire patent rights. Patents entail exclusive rights given to owners of an original work to protect and incentivize creativity and inventions. Patent rights are issued by the patent and trademark office in America. The rights excludes other persons other than the owners of an invention from selling, using or offering for sale or making an invention within or without the United States of America.
In conclusion, businesses operate under certain ethical principles and legal provisions. The use of intellectual property law is pertinent in safeguarding dissemination and creation of inventions to incentivize creativity. Contravention of the exclusive rights granted to a business partner has dire legal consequences such as imprisonment. Therefore, to protect a new invention from illegal access by other traders, it is important to obtain patent rights, copyrights and trademarks.