International Protection of Patents

The modern liberal state hesitates to grant monopolies to its citizens. If such privileges are granted nowadays, there has to be a strong justification for thus breaching the principal of equal treatment. All Intellectual Property rights, whether registered like Industrial Designs, Trade marks or not registered as Copyrights or Companies’ Goodwill (Passing off), create monopolies, since the right holder may prevent others from using his thought, the idea or invention.

Since intellectual property is insubstantial and therefore not visible, on the other hand, these rights must be protected by the state in a different way than the rights of property or possession of tangible assets. It is easy and cheap to reproduce intellectual property and – prima faciebeneficial into the bargain. To develop intellectual property by one self is time-consuming and cost-intensive. But people stop doing so immediately if the result of their work is not protected against copying, as there is no incentive to create new intellectual property.