PATENTS Rewarding inventive ingenuity may seem little more than an incidental consequence of modern patent systems the

e period of protection is relatively short compared with other forms of property. Today, patents are looked upon to provide two kinds of impetus towards the technical efficiency, and hence the growing wealth, of the community as a whole. They are intended to encourage the making of inventions and the subsequent innovative work that will put those inventions to practical use; and they are expected to procure information about the invention for the rest of the industry and the public generally, which otherwise might be withheld, at least for a period that could be crucial. Patents as incentives to invent and innovate (footnote quoting Sir Hugh Laddie at p93 in Vaver & Bently, IP in the New Millenium) If the reward for finding a solution to a problem and securing a monopoly for that solution is very high, then it may well be worthwhile for large players to examine all potential avenues to see if one gives the right result So, the more commercially attractive the solution and the more pressing the public clamour for it, the harder it will be to avoid an obviousness attack Patents then have their place as a technique aimed at those who feel the attraction of market rewards. The very size of an enterprise may mean that risky ideas are abandoned in face of well-reasoned argument from one or another entrenched interest major technical change may be delayed until individuals with flair and determination can secure the independence that they need to override the well-meaning caution of others less adventurous. T1 at p 144

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Patent systems ought to help in lowering the psychological barriers to major innovation, particularly since the limited period of protection imposes a penalty for being dilatory. If the patent system is to provide a useful incentive for the making and T1 at p 148 commercial introduction of major inventions, it must give firm rights of clear scope. The current movement to strengthen the examination procedures of patent offices should not be allowed to slacken. Patents as an information system In Britain the policy of making the patent system a source of technical T1 at p 149 information has been deliberately pursued since the early industrial revolution Patents do make available a large quantity of information about the latest technical advances, and they are regularly consulted by those concerned with developments in many industries. The disclosure side of the patent bargain is not a policy that is easy to T1 at p 150 implement. There is an obvious temptation for any patentee to omit from his specification information that may seem incidental but is in fact useful or important to commercial success. One decision of the English CA holds that a specification about basic ideas in
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a new technology should teach its principles to second-rank technicians rather than to leading researchers in the field (Valensi v British Radio). {Wrap-up} The justification is largely economic. The system seeks to offer incentives to invent and then to innovate at a level which secures a considerable measure of action, while providing the industry concerned with highly useful information and some chance to stay in the technology by making improvements and variations. At the same time, there is no denying that an underlying sense of justice insists that invention alone justifies any reward by exclusive right, and then only a proportional reward.

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COPYRIGHT Values and interests It is the cultural value attaching to authorship which provides such copious moral legitimacy for legal protection. Not only are authors given a longerlasting right than could possibly be needed by way of economic incentive; entrepreneurs are also able to justify related rights which protect their own investments in cultural productions. The realm occupied by copyright is accordingly fed by societys deep desire for artistic creativity. All concerned in shaping the law have appreciated that the demand for copyright is directed towards protecting much more humble and transitory material from the trespasses of pirates and other free riders. Copyright will remain because it provides necessary protection for the investment of intellectual effort and capital in material which is not produced in order to be freely shared. The law may have to be somewhat adapted, but its moral mainspring that works should not be substantially copied or otherwise taken without authority expresses a justification for legal intervention which will remain very widely accepted. Market power and individual works The first purpose of the protection is to allow recoupment for the initiative of creating the material and the investment risked in producing and marketing it. In most instances a copyist could produce a directly competing product at a much lower cost if copyright did not restrain him. The public is supplied with copyright material through the cooperation of entrepreneur and author, and it may be that there are cases where the very long period of copyright makes it worth an authors while to embark upon a particular subject. {But the case for copyright} has been borne along rather by special admiration for aesthetic creativity and the associated desire to provide authors with fruits of their labour which have the character of inheritable property. The duration of copyright The extensive term of copyright becomes possible because of the nature of what is protected and the limited scope of the rights granted. Politicians and other arbiters of legislative opinion may know little enough of the inner workings of copyright, but they appear to accept that the
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archetypal forms of aesthetic work deserve a market-based reward which should stretch over a long period. They seem moved by a moral desire to give creators their due a chance of reward somehow equating with the property rights which attach to the production of material things and the making of financial gains.

TRADEMARK 3 functions of trade marks may be distinguished: T1 at p 655 1) Origin function: marks deserve protection so that they may operate as indicators of the trade source from which goods or services come, or are in some other way connected; 2) Quality or guarantee function: marks deserve protection because they symbolise qualities associated by consumers with certain goods or services and guarantee that the goods or services measure up to expectations; 3) Investment or advertising function: marks are cyphers around which investment in the promotion of a product is built and that investment is a value which deserves protection as such, even when there is no abuse arising from misrepresentations either about origin or quality Information versus promotion Rational judgment and emotional preference intermingle in the many T1 at p 656 choices confronting consumers What [trademark] does is to enable the purchaser to link goods or services to a range of personal expectations about quality which derive from previous dealings, recommendations of others, attractive advertising and so on. Once a consumer learns that he does not want particular goods, the mark, name or get-up becomes a significant warning signal. To remove the possibility of differentiation (save for goods that can be T1 at p 657 tested by inspection) is to eliminate the incentive to provide goods of superior quality. A law protecting marks, names and get-up accordingly seems unavoidable in a market economy The trademark owner acquires the all-important right to stop imitations of his indication of source, but his own use is conditioned by few limitations or positive requirements. Functions and rights In Advocate-General Ruiz-Jarabo Colomers view, a trade mark acquires a life of its own, making a statement about quality, reputation and even, in certain cases, a way of seeing life. More succinctly, according to Griffiths, trademarks can gain a psychological hold on the minds of consumers, which gives them a selling power above that of the underlying goodwill. Over the past 16 years or so, new trademark laws have taken largely standardished form. Both the CTM Regulation and the TM Directive state as
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the guiding principle that the function of [legal protection] is in particular to guarantee the trademark as an indication of origin. Whilst repeatedly reiterating the principal origin function of trademarks, judgments of the ECJ have made clear that the system also protects the advertising and investment functions of marks.