24-01-2013, 11:19 AM
Managing Intellectual Property in the Advertising Industry
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INTRODUCTION
Advertising is not a new or recent activity. It has existed ever since man started
producing and trading goods. Already in ancient Egypt and Sumer, in 3,000 BC,
shoemakers and scribes promoted their services on clay tablets. Manufacturers of
tableware and amphora clay vessels affixed their specific stamps (emblems, logos)
to their products. Greek and Phoenician merchants used town criers to proclaim the
arrival of their ships laden with grain, wine and spices. Nowadays, businesses try
to attract customers in the traditional way with fancy business signs, pamphlets,
brochures, billboards, press announcements, radio and TV commercials, telephone
solicitations, door drops, commercial text messages, but also relying increasingly
on the Internet and the digital environment to disseminate banners1 and pop-ups,2
e-mail advertisements (marketing),3 rich media advertisements4 and many other
advertising techniques and tools.5
Advertising and publicity have developed in parallel with the modern consumer
society. During the early years of capitalism in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, goods and services did not need much advertising and
publicity as they were offered to an “empty” local market. With the increasing
number of manufacturers and the internationalization of trade and commerce,
competition became tougher, and more similar or identical goods were available
on the market. Businesses felt more of a need to advertise the qualities and features
of their goods and services to distinguish them from their competitors’ goods and
services. Finally, during the last 15–20 years of the twentieth century – with the
saturation of markets, the drastic reduction in product lifespans, the globalization
of trade and manufacturing and the avalanche of information disseminated without
borders – businesses started not only advertising their goods and services but
actively creating needs and investing resources therein. Advertising became
a product and service in itself.
The advertising industry in the global economy
The importance of proper management of IP in the advertising industry becomes
more obvious to the reader when the place and influence of the advertising
industry in the global economy is clearly defined. The global economy refers to an
environment in which businesses are able to market products and services
worldwide, and can be divided into several sectors or industries. In a very broad
sense, the advertising industry is considered part of the creative sector
(sometimes referred to as the economy of culture). Today, the cultural sector
comprises the traditional cultural industry as well as the creative sector. In
academic and professional literature and in practice, the expressions “cultural
industries” and ”creative industries” are sometimes used interchangeably. The
World Bank estimates that, globally, the creative sector (or creative industries)
account for more than seven per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP).7
Although the authors of this study have no intention of entering into a discussion
on definitions, they feel that it is important to explain their understanding of the
terms used in this study. Since the WIPO definition of “copyright industries” is
widely used, the authors have adopted it for this particular study as well. WIPO
uses the terms copyright-based industries, creative industries and cultural
industries as synonyms to refer to those activities or industries where copyright
plays an identifiable role. However, WIPO recognizes the differences that exist
between the three terminologies and that the expression “creative industries”
has a wider meaning and includes, besides the cultural industries, all cultural or
artistic production, whether live or produced as an individual unit, and is
traditionally used in relation to live performances.