INTERNATIONAL BRAND PROTECTION

"Intellectual property rights are policies that assign and protect the rights to earn income from innovative and creative activity. These rights provide legal authority to control the dissemination and commercialization of new information and ideas and to enforce sanctions against their unauthorized use. Intellectual property rights play a critical role in global economic growth and development because they affect the profitability of industrial research and the rewards to creative activity. At the same time, intellectual property rights are controversial because their stronger international protection may come at the expense of higher prices and reduced availability of products, particularly in developing countries."(Jain, S. 1996