Ethical Thinking On Intellectual Property Protection

As mankind enters the era of knowledge economy and the integration of world economygrows, intellectual property rights(IPR) become more and more important in the worldwidecompetition. So that more and more countries have realized the importance of IPR which hasturned to be a kind of strategic resource and competitive element, and joined in the tide ofprotecting IPR. IPR itself, in China, has also made a progress since reforming and opening up,and the institution which was made to protect IPR has been well developed. But competitively,the situation in China has still to be improved, in which there remains a lot of problems to solve.There are various causes to the infringements and wrongdoings which have frequentlyhappened in China nowadays. Such as defections in IPR institution, violations in market,deficiency in supervision of government, etc. But lack and misunderstanding of ethical conceptof IPR are the root cause.In Chinese traditional culture, there is no complete ethical concept of IPR, much less themodern concept. Therefore the relevant research has theoretical and also practical value. It is avirgin land in Ethics. This article, which would be based on the summary of advanced ethicalresearches about IPR, comparing with current worldwide situation of protection of IPR, willbuild a distinctive theoretical system which should be instructive for practices of dealing withIPR cases, and useful for the development of the institution of IPR.There are four chapters in this article. Firstly ethical theory of IPR will be introduced inChapter One, such as conceptions, development, properties and traits, etc. In Chapter Two,legitimacy of protection for IPR will be discussed from ethical perspective. There will be adescription of the current situation of protection for IPR, which includes the ones of China,U.S.A., and Japan. Especially it will introduce current Chinese situation and analyze the causes.In Chapter Four, it will look forward to the future of the protection for IPR, and provide a ethicalmean to it–from heteronomy to autonomy.