Intellectual property (IP) is a legal concept which refers to creations of the mind for which exclusive rights are recognized. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property rights include copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights, trade dress, and in some jurisdictions trade secrets. ("Intellectual Property Licensing." Lawyers Legal Forms and Documents. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013. .)
One reason for developing countries to have strong intellectual property rights is that intellectual property rights can spur innovation and creativity, which in turn can lead to economic growth. According to our textbook, “the philosophy behind intellectual property laws is to reward the originator of a new invention, book, musical, record, clothes design, restaurant chain, and the like, for his or her idea and effort. Such laws stimulate innovation and creative work. They provide an incentive for people to search for novel ways of doing things and they reward creativity.” (Hill, 2013). Basically what the textbook is saying is that, without strong intellectual property rights, no one would have any incentive to search for a better way of doing things. We would be living in a world that would never develop beyond a certain state because no one would search for an easier solution for something for fear of their hard work and in some cases money invested in R&D would be copied by someone and their economic gain would greatly diminish. An example of this is as follows. “A patent will grant the inventor of a new drug a 20 year monopoly in production of that drug. This gives pharmaceutical firms an incentive to undertake the expensive, difficult, and time consuming basic research