What is the importance of intellectual property protection?
One of the most important determinants of the profitability of a business is its “intellectual capital” or the knowledge, information, and experience that can be used to create wealth. Industries such as computer software, film, music performing and recording, and publishing are based almost entirely on the development and sale of their intellectual capital. These industries stand or fall on the strength of intellectual property protection provided by legal systems. Computer programs in some form or another underlie every action taken in cyberspace and are, therefore, the fundamental building block of the new economy. From a global perspective, the computer software industry employs 1.35 million people and produces $175 billion in worldwide revenue annually. But while the information economy is soaring, so is intellectual property theft and information piracy. The long-term health of the global information economy rests upon the ability of the public and private sectors to work togethe
