Intellectual Property Rights: Barriers in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s)

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises are an extremely diverse and heterogeneous group with a very wide range of needs and concerns. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) intellectual property (IP) is an important business asset. Where Small and medium sized (SME’S) account for 90% of the business population and also where it plays a significant role in the economy by contributing to the GDP by achieving sustainable national economic development, most governments have put an effort to establish the SME’S sector in their respective countries. SMEs can benefit from the wealth of technological and commercial information available in patent and trademark databases to learn about recent technological breakthroughs, identify future partners, and find out about the innovative activities of competitors. This paper highlights the significance of the intellectual property for the SME’s and also the barriers which are the reasons for ineffective use of the IP system and which has the impact on ability to exploit the innovative capabilities of SME’s.