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Austrian Patent Office<br />
Dr. Friedrich Rödler<br />
President Austrian Patent Office<br />
There is hardly anyone in the free market system<br />
who calls in question ownership. Yet practically<br />
everyone associates ownership with possession of<br />
money, fortune accruing from shareholdings, real estate<br />
or other property assets such as cars – with material<br />
goods accordingly.<br />
There is hardly anyone who first and foremost<br />
spontaneously thinks of immaterial values, of intellectual<br />
property even though everyone has heard of patents,<br />
brands, designs and copyright.<br />
Extremely rare are those aware of the inseparable<br />
connection between material and intellectual property<br />
as the groundwork of our prosperity.<br />
One car alone comprises up to 2.000 valid patents and<br />
copyright is applicable to whatever is not protected by<br />
patents. The differences of car brands are just as much at<br />
the bottom of the customer’s choice as is their different<br />
design.<br />
Moreover, what is true for a car is true for business in all<br />
its aspects: Intellectual property is not an end in itself,<br />
rather it materializes, creates demand and supply, it<br />
generates production facilities, jobs and prosperity.<br />
The global economic regions (USA, Europe, Asia) are in<br />
a state of competition with one another and whichever of<br />
these is most innovative will come out on top.<br />
Intellectual<br />
Property -<br />
The Foundation of<br />
Prosperity and<br />
Employment<br />
Photo © ÖPA/Bartl<br />
36<br />
ISSUE 2014
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