E-Business Intellectual Property Mykytyn, P.P., Mykytyn, K.,

E-Business Intellectual Property

Mykytyn, P.P., Mykytyn, K., & Harrison, D.A. (2005). Integrating Intellectual Property

Concepts into MIS Education: An Empirical Assessment. Decision Sciences Journal

Of Innovative Education, 3(1), 1-27. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4609.2005.00050.x

Intellectual property

The article integrating intellectual property concepts in MIS education, describes intellectual property as rights that belong to people who own works that are as a result of their mind. Intellectual property regards to products of the human mind that have commercial value need recognition and protection (Mykytyn & Harrison, 2005). It is for this reason that the owners of such works need intellectual property right. The article explores four main categories of intellectual rights. These include copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. This intellectual property rights get transferred through giving, selling or renting.

The intellectual property rights get a treatment that is similar to tangible property. The owners of these properties have a monopoly over their use for a limited period. The intellectual property law protects people who own creative and innovative works so that they can be able to benefit from them. To understand the intellectual rights, it is imperative to examine each of the rights in isolation.

The right to written works is the copyrights. A person gets these rights upon the creation of the works as they are automatic. This protects ensures that literary and artistic creations benefit the producers. Any person seeking to use such material must get permission from the owners. The other intellectual property is the trademarks (Mykytyn & Harrison, 2005). These are unique names, marks and designs' that identify a product and differentiate it from another.

Trade secrets are the intellectual property that has economic value to the holders. This information is valuable as long as it remains a secret. Owners of trade secrets have to that the secrets remain as part of confidential information for an organization. To maintain the secrets they engage in nondisclosure agreement with their employees and business partners. Further, they also restrict distribution. Misappropriation of this information is a criminal act.

Whenever there is a breach in the trade secret an organization can seek a court injunction. This would bar the other person from exploiting the secrets for the duration of time. The trade secret law has loopholes. If a person acquires the secrets of an organization independently, it is not an infringement of the trade secret law (Mykytyn & Harrison, 2005). The person can then use these secrets for their benefits at the expense of the organization that owned the originally.

The fourth intellectual property right is a patent. This is an exclusive right to an innovation in exchange to making it public. The acquiring of patent right is through the registration process. The patent right allows the concerned person to benefit from their effort to come with innovation (Lambert, 2009). The patent right expires after duration of twenty years. During the time when the patent is valid, the holder enjoys a monopoly.