Innovation And Property Rights
What Is Innovation?
Innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, process, a new marketing strategy or a new organizational method in a business process or organization.
The Need For Innovation
- To stand out amongst competitors
- To help grow and expand a business
- To create and maintain a customer base
- To prolong the short life cycle of the products in the market
Types Of Innovation
There are innovations based on the degree of change, that is, newness
They include;
- Radical innovations-They are unique, totally new influential innovations that involve major changes leading to the substitution of existing products, services or methods. They require completely new knowledge, technology and resources to innovate and most of them arise from discoveries. They are also categorized by more risks and they provide more benefits and utility
- Incremental innovations-These involve improving on what is already there, for example, knowledge, technology in terms of cellphones, motor vehicles, and computers
Objects Of Innovation
They include;
Product innovation-This is the introduction of a good or service that is significantly improved in relation to its characteristics of intended functional use. It may include significant changes in the technical specifications of a product, changes in the user-friendliness or other characteristics
Process innovation-This involves the implementation of a new or significantly improved production method of delivery. It includes changes in techniques in delivery, changes in equipment and software used, changes in the technology employed in production and delivery.
Process innovation is intended to;
- Decrease unit cost of production or delivery
- Improve efficiency
- Improve the quality of the product
- Deliver a new or significantly improved product
Marketing innovation-This is the implementation of a marketing method. It involves significant changes in product design or packaging product placement, new sales channels, new pricing methods, new promotion methods, such innovations are aimed at better addressing customer needs, opening up new markets, positioning in the market to improve sales
Organizational innovation-Implementation of significantly new organizational method in a firms business practices.they are intended to reduce administrative or transaction costs to improve workplace satisfaction,reduce cost of supplies.this will include new methods of organizing procedures and routines, introduction of new management system, a change in supply chain operations, coming up with a new quality management system, new ways of organizing relations in a system.
Sources Of Innovations
- New knowledge or technology for example research
- Unexpected occurrences for example success or failure
- Process needs or requirements
- Industry and market changes
- Demographic changes
Intellectual Property Rights
It is the intangible property arising from the human intellect that can only be protected upon expression.
Intellectual property;
- Can be owned and administered by states
- Can be sold in the market place
- Can be leased can be developed and exploited
- Can be enforced by law
Intellectual property rights are exclusive rights granted by a state to the owner of intellectual property to exclude others from the use and exploitation of the intellectual property.
Types of Intellectual Property Rights
- Industrial property rights-They include patents, trademarks, utility models, industrial designs.
- Copyrights and related rights
- Plant breeders rights
- Geographical indications
- Trademarks
It is a word, design, or a combination thereof that is used by a person or a group of businesses to identify and distinguish their product in the market place.
Functions and use of a trademark
- Evidence of exclusive ownership
- Indicate that all goods that are offered under a trademark come from the same producer or manufacturer
- It provides assurance that goods with a given mark are of a certain quality and consistency
- It assists consumers in making buying decisions by helping them identify and distinguish goods and services
- It is an advertising device that consumers use to link a given product with a particular place or market
Patents
A patent is an exclusive right that is granted for an innovation that provides for a new way of doing something or offers a new technology
It s normally given for a period of time for the exchange of disclosure of knowledge t the public.
Requirements for issue of a patent
- Novelty or newness
The invention must be new and it must not have been described sufficiently to enable the invention to be understood by word of mouth, used in any invention, or publication before the application is made
2. It must have an inventive stage
3. It must have an industrial application
Utility models
They are minor inventions but do not meet all the requirements
Industrial designs
They are any composition of lines, colours or any three-d form that give a special appearance to a product, or handicraft and can serve as a patent
It mostly has to do with the physical appearance and they serve as a virtual appeal to the customer
Copyrights
These are intellectual property rights that brand the owner of the original work of ownership. The legal rights of how the work is used and exploited to gain economic benefit
