IP rights and their importance in the creative industries

What do we mean by the term IP?

IP in this context stands for intellectual property which refers to creations of the mind. Basically, if you come up with an idea or a concept you become the owner through intellectual property - it is the property of your intellect. It helps give us so many things in our day-to-day life like entertainment, work and education.

It's not just a thing in the Games Dev industry but in almost every single industry, in the creative industries it's a very important thing as it protects creativity.

It was actually way back in 1474 in a Venetian Republic act that the first permanent patent system for intellectual property was laid out. But it wasn't until as late as 2014 that the actual Intellectual Property act received royal assent and came into force.

Less than a decade later it's still something that isn't discussed very often but surely has changed the creative industries for the better.

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Why do IP rights in the creative industries matter?

Intellectual property in the creative industries is crucial to its development. It stops people from being able to share your ideas or concepts without your permission which could be critical. Without IPRs people would not only miss out on revenue that they are owed but also focus less on research and development.

This could cause a lot of issues for smaller developers or creators in the way that their ideas or art could be stolen by larger companies who have the means of creating it etc. meaning that not only would indie developers earn less money, but it would deter people from trying to become indie developers which in this climate is something we need.

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Why is copyright important?

Copyright is important in almost every single industry. It stops people from taking your ideas, creating them themselves then selling it without the actual creator (you) getting any slice of the profits.

Not only that but without copyright people could misuse your brand inappropriately without your knowledge, this could lead to lots of people finding something that completely construes your image making them less likely to use your business in the future.

Copyright is what holds a lot of the business world together. In a capitalist world copyright is one of the most important things to a business and especially that if the creative industries.

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Famous Legal Disputes

I think the most classic case of copyright disputes that most of us will know about was back in 1990 when Vanilla Ice released the song 'Ice Ice Baby'

The song proved to be very popular, but Vanilla Ice refused to credit the original song that he had sampled - 'Under Pressure' by David Bowie and Queen.

David Bowie and Queen filed a lawsuit against him to prove that he sampled their song which is pretty much undeniable if you listen to the bass line in both of them for more than 2 seconds.

Although you probably have heard both of these songs, listening to them right after the other will prove that not only was Under Pressure sampled but - let's face it - Vanilla Ice made a worse song (Please don't send for me)

Under Pressure - Queen Ft. David Bowie

Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby

Vanilla Ice originally denied the claims but, in the future, went on to say it was 'a joke'. Which if you ask me, is a great excuse. After Ice admitted to sampling it, the matter was dealt with privately and it is assumed that Ice paid both Bowie and Queen a considerable amount of money.

Although this is a copyright dispute and not an intellectual property rights dispute it is still a perfect example of what could happen without the proper content laws being put in place.

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Does IP stifle creativity in the creative industries?

Some people are under the impression than intellectual property rights are actually harming the creative industries by limiting the ideas that people can use whereas others believe that because of this - the people in the creative industries are being forced to think more creatively and look outside the box to create ideas.

I personally believe in the latter. The use of intellectual property rights in the creative industries is integral to helping smaller developers create their ideas without worry that a massive conglomerate could see and steal those ideas with no consequences. I think without intellectual property rights we wouldn't see a lot of overly creative games. Although IPRs can maybe ruin an idea that you thought was original it doesn't mean you can't reinvent that idea as something different and create something from that.

Indie developers are some of the most creative people in the industry, they know that their ideas have to be creative enough and enjoyable enough to not only stand the test of time but go in the store side by side with triple A titles.

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Sam's Suggestions

Although you don't hear about it often, Intellectual property rights are exceptionally important in the creative industries - Especially within the games development community.

Without it there would be chaos and exploitation of not only small developers but big ones as well. Intellectual property rights.

I apologise that Sam's Suggestions for this blog are a bit sparse but there's not a lot for me to suggest apart from properly researching Intellectual property rights for yourself to fully understand and have knowledge of it.