What is relevance of intellectual property in society and business?

Answer 1

From a societal standpoint, intellectual property rights reward creative thinking by giving artists and inventors a temporary monopoly on their works, increasing value by increasing scarcity.

From a business perspective, intellectual property is an increasingly valuable commodity, as the global economy becomes more knowledge based: rather than trading in things, we trade in information.

Without laws protecting intellectual property, this valuable commodity will be reduced.

Answer 2

Every innovation which has ever been developed was once an idea. In today's society ideas are constantly been though up, but with so many people globally connected it is very difficult to keep track of the origins of these ideas. We are no longer able to tell exactly who invented paper first or the wheel, however today intellectual property gives us a way of give people credit where credit is due. By giving people the ability to own ideas it inturn allows society to keep track of it's greatest innovators.