Technology, Science and Intellectual Property
Science and technology provide many social benefits such as increased economic growth and quality of life. They may also lead to negative and unintended consequences. Most societies promote science and technology, but it can be costly. Creation of intellectual property, which protect new businesses and innovators the right to profit from their creations provides incentives for expensive innovation without the need for direct government subsidies (Posner 2004). At the same time, IPRs may maintain or exacerbate the inequality of wealth. Man has little meaning if they can be violent and sophisticated technology to make the IP authorities increasingly difficult. Photocopiers allow for anyone with access to the machine to reproduce works entitled to copyright protection and the Internet allows anyone to make literary or musical works available to the entire world. Science and technology challenges of intellectual property, particularly patent laws. New areas such as information technology and genetic engineering force courts to decide how to apply laws made before such technology is considered. As knowledge itself becomes more valuable, people and institutions seek additional protection for the control of knowledge and their profits. At the same time, society has a growing need for access to certain kinds of knowledge and protection from the use of others. Abstract ideas can not be patented, but their application can qualify for patent protection. For example, "Einstein could not patent his celebrated law, E MC2, Newton could not have patented the law of universal gravitation. These discoveries are" manifestations of nature, free to all men and only there. "’(Diamond v. Chakrabarty, p. 309 with reference to the Funk Brothers Seed Co. v. Kalo Co. modifier, 333, 127 U.S. 130, 1948). General ideas remain in the public domain, but their use can be privatized through the patenting process. Biotechnology, perhaps more than any other field, has challenged courts and lawmakers to reconsider intellectual property laws. In 1972, Ananda Chakrabarty, a microbiologist, sought a U.S. patent on genetically engineered bacteria. U.S. Patent Office rejected the application because bacteria are products of nature, and the living can not be patented in accordance with U.S. law. The case was appealed and eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The court reaffirmed the principle that natural phenomena can not be patented, but found that the bacteria Chakrabarti was a "product of human ingenuity," and therefore patentable under U.S. law. So many biotechnology patents have been issued for such small innovations that some fear a tragedy of the anti-fund, in which innovation has so many existing patents that innovation is not recommended. At least one study found an anti-fund is not a serious barrier to innovation, but that the situation is under control. Intellectual property can be attached to writings or products regarded as dangerous or immoral, and IPRs tend to legitimize such works, implying social approval. Society must decide whether to protect the harmful or otherwise objectionable work. New technologies, especially those that create or repeat life, often trigger debate about the work should be done at all, much less be protected by law. IPRs also establish ownership of particular innovations, which can help determine liability if the product is harmful. This raises the question of whether innovators should be held accountable for their products, especially when products are used in unintended ways. Public funding of science and technology further complicate intellectual property issues. Who should benefit from the work developed under public funding, the creator or the public? What is the balance between public and private benefits best serves societal goals? Scientists build its reputation in the production of intellectual works. They seek recognition for their achievements, the control over any economic benefits, as well as protection against plagiarism. IPRs promote the provision of information to the public to protect the author for his work, even after it was published. IPRs protect authors from possible appropriation of ideas of others, including reviewers, before the work is actually published. The property may be one of the most important intellectual property issues. Who owns the product of joint work? At what point is the contribution of the head, student or employee deserves co-authorship? When the author of works for a corporation or university, not the property lies on the author or the institution? And what about the financial institutions? In many cases, ownership or copyright is established disciplinary customs or agreements between the parties (Kennedy 1997). Plagiarism professionally unacceptable and sometimes illegal, but time is crucial to determine whether plagiarism has not happened. According to Donald Kennedy, "To someone else’s idea and use it before it was placed in the public domain is a form of theft … [on T] and then use someone else’s idea after it was published scholarship (1997, p. 212). Of course attribution is important, even, and especially in science, or not work is protected.









