Development Research as Intellectual Property

It is true that many achievements in development area are built upon other’s scientific, technological attempts. States decide different approaches regarding how to protect research programs specially when funded by government. The 1976 Copyright Act of USA prohibits copyrights of federal governmental works. International conventions basically cover certain areas of artistic, scientific and technological works to be protected by legal systems. This limited act of protection has put forward many questions about the ability of local and international system regarding the copyright of research tools and theories. Legal measures that prohibit reproducing and copying research works in such a way that may include theoretical areas prove to be suspended between national and international approaches. While in some countries scientific theories and research tools in different fields are highly protected, in other parts of the world legal approaches are trying to answer the question that whether research development and theories should be protected as intellectual properties. If so, these patents belong to their producers or are a part of state’s assets. It is believed that these products have to be considered intellectual properties in the research phase upward even when they are applied