'Intellectual property rights represent one of the most valuable commercial assets in modern society. But also one of the most problematic for a company to protect.' Discuss.

Intellectual property is an area of law, "which allows people to own their creativity and innovation in the same way that they can own physical property." Intellectual property rights provide people with control over ideas or information embodied in a valuable form of protection. It plays a major part in our modern business environment and becomes an increasingly valuable asset for establishing competitive advantage in all types of business. Currently many businesses dedicate as much …

…UK's current intellectual property legislation is proving to be effective, reducing the number of infringements and improving the overall protection of affected industries, but there is always place for better protection. Thus, the legislation needs to ensure that there is a balance between conflicting matters such as, protection of intellectual property and innovation, and development of intellectual property itself. The slow down in intellectual property development, can cause a slow down for the whole economy.