Intellectual property (IP) arrangements offer opportunities to creators of new and valuable knowledge to secure sufficient returns to motivate their initial endeavour or investment. In this respect, they are akin to the property rights that apply to ownership of physical goods. But ideas are not like physical goods in other key respects. Ideas also provide economic and social value as others draw on them and extend the frontiers of knowledge. For these reasons, property rights over ideas and their expression are not granted in perpetuity and limitations are placed on their application.
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