However, the rights have some confinements incorporating the limitations and other considerations of issues like their contradiction with the fundamental rights and the codified provisions in force. The legal issues involving intellectual property rights have two dimensions. Firstly, those that provide exclusive rights only in the sphere of copying / reproduction of the item or act safeguarded and secondly, those which provide a right to deter others from doing something. The former has no hindrance for making the design if it is not a case of copying. However, the later confers the right of patents and prevent the others from making the same design even if they had never heard of or seen the claimed property. The more specialized forms of such exclusive rights also prevails regionally such as mask work rights in USA, Integrated Circuit Topography Act in Canadian law, and in European Community Law by Directive 87/54/EEC of 16 December 1986 on the legal safeguards of "topographies of semiconductor products, plant breeders' rights, plant variety rights, industrial design rights, database rights in European law and supplementary protection certificates for pharmaceutical products." (Intellectual property rights: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) global framework of mandatory minimum intellectual property standards that extended the arena of safeguarding and enforcement of intellectual property is established by the Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of World Trade Organization. The World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO also strives to devise new rules in consonance with the minimum standards of TRIPS Agreement. The Bilateral and regional agreements and negotiations such as United States- Jordan Free Trade Agreement and draft Agreement for the Free Trade Area of the Americas also aim for TRIPS - plus standards. (Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development) What are the implications for business?

The safeguard of intellectual property is considered as a crucial factor for economic growth and advancement in the high technology sector. They are beneficial to the business and assist the public as a whole and acts as a mechanism for technical advancement. Patents are beneficial to the owner of the Intellectual Property and supplement the value to all industrial as well as business concerns and laboratory discoveries and as a result of this it extend incentives for...

Irrespective of the fact that disadvantages sometimes outweigh their advantages the developed world has the necessary economic strength and instituted legal mechanisms to come across the problems so caused. There is a substantial enhancement in the significance of intellectual property safeguard for small and medium sized enterprises or SMEs with globalization and rapid proliferation of technology. The strong safeguard of intellectual property is felt essential to the efficacy and in some cases to the survival of the biotechnology companies. (Intellectual Property Rights- a Boon to Indian Companies)
What can/should be done?

Several problems arise from the enforcement of intellectual property rights particularly with regards to ownership of information, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, design rights and plant breeders' rights. The copyright of information sometimes leads to the privatization of publicly funded information and patents have lost its very idea of granting the exclusive right to make, use or sell the invention. It has therefore, been suggested that the intellectual properties should not be owned, as the history of science records vigorous intellectual activity is quite feasible without intellectual property. Copyright is a safeguard against plagiarism. However, the copyright is not an effective safeguard against plagiarism and therefore is thought that the most effective challenge to plagiarism is not legal action but publicity. The alternative to royalty should be thought of in terms of a salary, grant or bursary. (Against intellectual property)