Intellectual property rights in a global Market: a hedging strategy

Abstract

Abuse of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the current legal environment of international business result s in a loss of revenue to the rightful owner. The purpose of this paper is a dual one--to identify the factors of inducement leading to such abuses; and to devise a hedging strategy to minimize the loss of revenue from such abuses. A firm has three basic approaches to counter a perceived or real threat of IPR violations. It can take a positive approach that provides incentives to other to honor such international rights. It can take a negative approach that discourages offending parties through international agreements and economic threats. Finally, if the violation warrants retribution, it can take an external approach that uses international courts, and home country laws for seizure of assets of the offending parties.