Intellectual Property Rights and Global Property Rights and Leasing Equipment
Intellectual Property Rights and Global Property Rights and Leasing Equipment
Q.1. The existing fair usage exceptions strikes imbalance between the interests of the users and the copyright owners. For one, the exceptions are only limited to permit purposes such as news reporting, giving professional advice, criticism, and study. In this case, such exception does not provide a balanced treatment to the interests of the copyright users particularly in terms of their daily living. Furthermore, the exceptions are only limited to benefit specific users such as educational institutions, libraries, archives, and the media, which encompasses a failure to protect the legitimate interests of consumers in terms of making non-commercial dealings even if the copyrighted materials were legitimately acquired. Despite the fact that existing copyright law authorizes the domestic and private user of legitimately acquired copyrighted materials, the exceptions still creates and issue where the private and domestic use of the materials are being subjected to limitation by the copyright owners, which at some point results to copyright claims.
Q.2. It is apparent that the ability of pharmaceutical companies to patent and exploit plant-derived substances encompasses legal and ethical dilemmas. For one, plants are part of biodiversity, which is universally a resource for mankind and no specific individual or group that should claim owners of such. Since industrial property rights is involved, it made possible for groups or individuals to claim exclusivity in the use of a particular plant. For example, the red periwinkle plant, which is indigenous to Madagascar was patented by a pharmaceutical company for the product Vincristine to treat leukemia for children (Baig, 2013). The companies earned millions while Madagascar did not earn even recognition for its contribution. The practices can be considered as biopiracy in which the global copyright law should be protecting Madagascar and not the pharmaceutical companies. One way to compensate is to annex the patent to include Madagascar government as beneficiary to receive parts of the revenue.
Q.3. Companies acquire assets in several ways and one of which is leasing. The considerable economic benefits of leasing can be observed in terms of the organization keeping up with technology. This is because companies are able to invest on advanced technology through leasing and can later change to more advanced equipment anytime. In addition, leasing allow companies is that the payment can be treated as business expense that is tax deductible. Furthermore leasing costs less in the long-term instead of periodically replacing equipment in order to keep up with the demand for more advanced technological-dependent operations. In terms of benefits for the lessor, it provides several advantages such as acquiring equipment at low cost and it also enable the lessor to liquidate the equipment more efficiently in order to obtain more acceptable financing terms (Morais, 2013). In addition, lessors are also able to gain advantage of the tax laws in terms of eligibility for investment tax credits and depreciation allowances.
Q. 4. The conventional lease analysis or NAL suggests that commercial leasing in the long-terms is viable than ownership because real estate where the commercial space sits is bound to increase in value through time provided that the economic condition is stable. Commercial lease is subject to specific duration stipulated in the lease contract. If the business is struggling, the cost of commercial rent will take up significant portion of the revenue further reducing the chance to earn profit. This creates a problem with the leasing business owner because he is bound to pay the lease regardless if the business condition is good or not within the period specified in the contract. Termination of the contract on the other hand will also render considerable cost to the part of the business owner. However, in the Business Processing Outsourcing industry, leasing encompasses a significant advantage because it provides a better understanding of the company’s real costs allowing a more effective benchmarking.
References
Baig, R. (2013). Biopiracy rips off native medical knowledge | Globalization | DW.COM | 10.04.2013.DW.COM. Retrieved 2 June 2016, from http://www.dw.com/en/biopiracy-rips-off-native-medical-knowledge/a-16732044
Morais, A. (2013). Why companies choose to lease instead of buy? Insights from academic literature.Academia Revista Latinoamericana De Administración, 26(3), 432-446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/arla-07-2013-0091
