Intellectual Property Rights

In essence, intellectual property refers to the well-known legal IP protection for creators.

These rights have had a tremendous impact on the trading and selling of ideas by individuals and

businesses alike. Most companies in various industries rely on the protection of their patents,

trademarks, and copyrights and clients may be assured of quality when purchasing IP-backed

items. As a result, it's critical to safeguard the intellectual property in a variety of methods.

Tim came up with the idea for the cup's production, and he has more control over the

product's design. If the Sea Limited Firm had created the cup trademark and purchased the

concept for Tim, it would be much easier to claim the injection and copyrights for the company

that Tim signed with, and the idea would be unable to be exploited. The Sea Limited Company

failed to carry out the majority of the activities that were supposed to defend their brand. They

failed to register the trademark, copyrights, or patent for the cup. They failed to register a

domain, which was registered by a rival, and they failed to make a contract with Tim, which was

a failure in the process of negotiating confidentiality, non-disclosure, and licensing arrangements

between partners or workers.

Because it is assumed that the employee was doing his or her job, the employer can

control the intellectual property developed by the employee to some extent. However, in the case

when the employee was not granted a contract, the employee can claim the IP because there was

no identifiable link. Failure to have a documented contract can sink a shipping company.

Even though the cup was designed during Tim's employment, the lack of a contract was

the key issue that threatened the company's survival. Take the case of King v SA Weather

Service (716/2007), for example. He built weather software while working for the corporation,
but he was unable to file a claim because he was under contract with the company. The copyright

law of Act 98 of 1978 stipulates that if "a work is made in the course of the author's employment

by another person under a contract of service or apprenticeship, that other person shall be the

owner of any copyright subsisting in the work....", the company may be unable to claim the

copyrights from the competitor.

 Reference

Evenson, R. E. (2019). Intellectual property rights, R&D, inventions, technology purchase, and

piracy in economic development: An international comparative study (pp. 325-355).

Routledge.