ABSTRACT
Intellectual property rights (IPRs), such as patents and copyrights, have traditionally been offered to inventors and creators as rewards for innovation, and as incentives for them to share information with the public to promote more innovation by others. Patents are the main mechanism most countries use to allocate rights over inventions. They give their owners monopoly control over their inventions for a fixed term of years. During that time, owners may restrict or control the commercial use and sale of the invention. Society as a whole benefits by gaining access (for a price) to new and useful products, and by acquiring new knowledge that can be used as a basis for additional research and the creation of new inventions. Patent protection has historically been strongest in the industrialized countries and much weaker (or non-existent) in developing countries.
