This blog is written by Gurleen Kaur, a Fourth-Year law student of St. Soldier Law College

Introduction[i]

The Intellectual property law was established to protect the creations of the mind and protect the rights of the creation owners. Intellectual Property refers to inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, video, audio, and written content (books, scripts, articles, poems songs, or blogs). There is a strong requirement for intellectual property law for innovation encouragement, promoting economic growth, protecting the rights of the creator, and protecting the creation from unauthorized use or theft, which encourages research and development in the field of intellectual creation. Nowadays, trends are emerging and the use of technology is rapidly growing such as artificial intelligence, IoT, VR/AR, and blockchain-based IP, which lead to misconduct of technology resulting in more cybercrimes, and to prevent them intellectual property law is very much needed.

Intellectual Property Foundations[ii]

Intellectual property is not concerned with only one area but has different types and has a vast scope to study, the types of intellectual property are patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Patents are the exclusive rights granted to inventors for novel, nonobvious, and useful inventions, and IP laws protect them from unauthorized use, making, sale, or import of patented inventions. Trademarks are the identity of any goods/services such as symbols, phrases, or specified brand logos. In this owner registers marks to protect brand identity. IP laws prevent the use of similar marks which can confuse etc. Copyrights are the exclusive rights to original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. IP laws protect it from unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or display. A trade secret is confidential information that provides an economic advantage. IP law protects this information from any unauthorized disclosure or use.

Perks of Emerging Technologies[iii]

As time moves rapidly, the demands and the needs of men are also increasing which has given a new dimension to technology with the entry of Artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain systems, IoT, 3D printing, VR/AR, Quantum Computing, Biotech, and Nanotech. These technologies have widened the scope of intellectual property and worked very efficiently They increased the accessibility by providing open-source IP platforms for collaborative innovation, crowdsourcing IP funding and support, and now there are online IP marketplaces for buying and selling IP rights. It has also increased the management and evolved new business models in the field of IP. Now the transparency has also increased with publicly accessible IP databases, open-source IP licensing terms, and blockchain-based IP transaction records. With this, the costs have also decreased as it has lower IP application and maintenance fees, reduced costs for IP search and analysis, and online IP dispute resolution has reduced the cost of litigation.

New Challenges Against the IP Laws:[iv]

With the emerging technologies and their easy access, IP Laws must face new challenges that are a bit complex such as ownership and authority in AI-generated works, protecting blockchain-based inventions and trade secrets, IoT patentability and infringement concerns, 3D printing and copyright infringement, VR/AR trademark and trade secret protection, Quantum computing patentability of algorithms and lastly the nanotechnology patentability and regulatory frameworks. These challenges can only be prevented by Updating IP laws and regulations to address emerging technology by establishing clear guidelines for AI-generated intellectual property, also by developing regulations for the blockchain method and creating specific IP laws for the IoT and VR/AR techs.

Best Practices for IP Professionals[v]

For the better functioning of these emerging technologies, IP professionals need to perform best practices by executing strategic plans such as staying updated on emerging technologies and IP laws, conducting thorough audits of IP, and aligning IP goals with business objectives. This best practice includes the best management of IP by implementing efficient IP portfolio management, monitoring IP infringement and enforcement, developing robust IP licensing agreements, and conducting regular IP reviews and analyses. They also need to educate clients/colleagues about IP importance and should also participate in IP-focused conferences and events. They also can collaborate with R&D teams for IP identification. The best practice includes maintaining ethics and integrity, proper documentation and record keeping, and taking care of risk management which does not infringe any IP laws and client’s rights.

Future Directions and Implications[vi]

For furthermore enhancement and better management of these emerging technologies in the IP, we need to harmonize the global IP laws and regulations and increase the use of AI and ML in IP management as AI is the future and somehow it makes complex things easy to explain, with integration of blockchain technology for secure IP registration. Most importantly there is a crucial need for the development of specialized IP courts and tribunals for the speedy resolution of IP issues. Also, the importance of IP insurance is rapidly growing. The emerging technologies have brought new outcomes, effects, and consequences which are termed implications. These implications consist [vii]evolving nature of ownership and authorship, the traditional IP protectors are replaced with data-driven approaches and the primary focus is on trade secret protection. It also includes the importance of cybersecurity and data protection with the need to adapt emerging technologies in the IP law to widen its scope.

Conclusion

In the verdict, we have concluded that the emerging trends and technologies in IP law are a need of today’s world and they have proved to be very beneficial for IP protection, prevention, efficiency, and management. Such IP trends have brought some challenges for the IP law which can be conquered with an executed strategy and planning by the IP professionals. We also concluded that knowledge regarding IP laws is very important and further education system needs to teach students about these newly emerging technologies and their uses.

References

[i] (Intellectual property rights in india.pdf) <https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/Intellectual Property Rights in India.pdf> accessed 23 September 2024

[ii] Ucl, ‘Foundations in Intellectual Property Law’ (UCL Faculty of Laws, 20 May 2024) <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/short-courses/summer-school/foundations-intellectual-property-law> accessed 24 September 2024

[iii] Unnikrishnan A, ‘Law and World’ (Lawandworld) <https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/473> accessed 24 September 2024

[iv] ‘The Challenge of Protecting Intellectual Property’ (WIPO) <https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2016/si/article_0004.html> accessed 25 September 2024

[v] El-Atab A, ‘Intellectual Property Management Best Practices’ (Lexzur, 25 July 2022) <https://www.lexzur.com/intellectual-property-management-best-practices/> accessed 25 September 2024

[vi] ‘The Future of Intellectual Property Law in the Digital Age: TimesPro Blog’ (TimesPro) <https://timespro.com/blog/the-future-of-intellectual-property-law-in-the-digital-age> accessed 25 September 2024

[vii] Saha CN and Bhattacharya S, ‘Intellectual Property Rights: An Overview and Implications in Pharmaceutical Industry’ (Journal of advanced pharmaceutical technology & research, April 2011) <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3217699/> accessed 25 September 2024