Justifications of intellectual Property protection

—  Ethical and Moral justifications: It is justified as the law recognizes natural or human rights over the products of their labour. It prevents third parties from becoming unjustly enriched by ‘reaping where they have not sown’.

—  Instrumental justifications: It is justified as IP induces or encourages desirable activities.

          For example: the patent system is justified as it provides inventors with an          

          incentive to invest in research and development of new products or an    

          incentive to disclose valuable technical information to the public, which

          would otherwise have remained secret.

—  Instrumental justifications typically premised on the position that without intellectual property protection there would be under production of intellectual products.

—  Economic justification: Economic theory argues that be transforming potentially valuable intangible artefacts into property rights, those artefacts are more likely to be exploited to their optimal extent. This neo-classical economic theory would draw the limit of intellectual property protection at the point where it begins to inhibit efficient uses.

(Intellectual Property Law: Lionel Bently and Brad Sherman)