Relevance of IPR in Small Businesses

Abstract

Small businesses in India have always been one of the major occupations in rural as well as urban terrain and they are major source of income for the middle class group. As urbanization has increased the demand for the small services like grocery shops, bakeries, vegetable shops, laundry shops, juice centers, sweet shops, small hotels etc. Majorly the urban population is a mix of all the classes of people but a considerable portion is occupied by the middle and low income group, which has resulted in requirement of small services, and retail shops. As of a result of which the small businesses mushroom in the different localities, in different sizes so that they can cater to all the segments of consumers. Small business organizations contribute to the economy significantly by distributing the finished goods to the ultimate consumers, and they also create jobs in smaller units. The large business organizations contribute to economy by creating jobs in a bulk, economies of scale. The large scale organizations have the accessibility to hire legal professionals like legal advisers and naturally they give the suggestions on legal aspects for a smooth conduct of the business. In this context large or medium sized organizations have proximity to legal protection for their inventions, design, copyrights, trademarks etc, and they consciously protect their rights by patents or trademark and so on. In this article we have made an attempt to understand the extent of application of IPR in small and micro businesses.