Intellectual Property

October 11, 2012

Interview with Alexandre Montagu, author of the book Intellectual Property: Money and Power in a New Era, 2012 Ed.

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Mike Carruthers:
Intellectual property it’s any intangible that has commercial value.

Alexandre Montagu:
That can take any form it could be software, it could be data bases of information, it could be designs.
 

Attorney Alexandre Montagu, author of the book Intellectual Property...

But in could be also things that you might not imagine. For example there was a recent case where a French clothes designer and shoe designer Louboutin claimed they owned the color red in connection with high heel shoes – that, that was their intellectual property and that the rival fashion house Yves Saint Laurent wasn’t allowed to use the color red.

The sound that a Harley Davidson makes is protected intellectual property of Harley Davidson and no one else can use it. So as you can see the rules and laws of intellectual property are complicated and confusing and you have to be careful not to infringe on other people’s intellectual property.

Just recently the estate of Marlon Brando brought a law suit against Madonna saying they didn’t get the right licenses for the use of Marlon Brando’s name in Madonna’s concert tour.

And even if you protect your intellectual property here there is still the rest of the world to think about.

Notably China and we complain they are misusing our intellectual property. But for them copying is like planting cabbage – they reward people who copy really well.