4. THE IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
4.1. Overall importance
Experience accumulated over time has demonstrated the cross-cutting importance and
advantages of intellectual property. In particular:
•
It stimulates creativity and innovation, by rewarding the work done by creators and
innovators and safeguarding the intellectual property rights they have acquired;
•
It promotes an appreciation of technical and scientific knowledge through its use in
achieving the goals of national development;
•
It attracts foreign investment through an effective legal system for the protection of
intellectual property rights;
•
It promotes the resolution of the local problems of communities through solutions
provided by creators and researchers;
•
It stimulates research and innovation based on the concrete reality of the country;
•
It makes the country more attractive to researchers, preventing a brain drain and
producing a "brain gain";
•
It facilitates access to technological information and to the transfer and dissemination of
technology;
•
It facilitates the transfer and application of the knowledge produced in the universities
and research institutes to industry and other major sectors;
•
It generates income for the universities, research institutes and enterprises that produce
knowledge;
•
It protects investment in scientific research;
•
It prevents the usurpation and illegitimate use of knowledge;
•
It combats practices constituting unfair competition;
•
It adds value to domestic products;
•
It safeguards and preserves local knowledge, cultural expressions and folklore;
•
It reinvigorates the cultural industry;
•
It shows appreciation for the work produced by artists and rewards their efforts;
•
It reassures, protects, promotes and benefits communities in the exploitation of traditional
knowledge.