Intellectual property rights in the digital age

Years and years ago, a young woman made a board game to teach people about an economic ideology and a few years down the line, a man decided to create something very similar to it and sold it to a bigger company for large profits. The woman almost got forgotten with time and it was only much more recently that a document stating her authority over the board game and its concept was found while a legal battle was happening. This was Elizabeth Magie, the inventor of the game Monopoly (initially known as The Landlord’s Game). If she had not filed a copyright patent on her game in 1904, no credit would have crossed her name while turning the pages of history. 

It was in the 1970s that the involvement of Magie in creating Monopoly came out during a legal battle. Ralph Anspach, an economics professor and creator of the game ‘Anti-Monopoly’, was in a legal battle when he discovered documents that traced Monopoly’s origins back to The Landlord’s Game. 

The ideas behind a product can be just as valuable as the product itself. These ideas—ranging from inventions to creative works—are protected by Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Intellectual Property Rights are legal rights granted to individuals or organisations over the creations of their intellect. These rights give the creator exclusive control over the use of their creations for a certain period (20 years in India), allowing them to reap economic benefits and maintain control over how their work is used or reproduced. 

How to File for Intellectual Property Rights

To file a patent in India, you’ll need to prepare and submit a patent application to the Indian Patent Office (IPO). This entails a number of procedures, such as invention disclosure (a document that contains as much information as possible about your invention, such as a clear description, drawings, and claims), patentability search (a search to see if your invention is new and unprotected by existing patents), application preparation, and examination requests. The application can be submitted in person or online.

Intellectual Property Rights are the backbone of creative and innovative economies. They ensure that creators—from writers and musicians to inventors and designers—receive recognition and compensation for their work. Understanding how to file for these rights and securing them appropriately is essential for protecting both creative integrity and potential income. As digital technology makes content reproduction easier than ever, the role of IPR in protecting originality and promoting innovation has never been more critical. With creators and influencers calling out each other for imitating trends and ideas, it’s all the more important to understand the concept of intellectual property rights.