The Harshaw Research corporate philosophy identifies patents, trademarks, and copyrights as intangible assets. It is, therefore, our intent to effectively identify, in the early stage of development, new products in which Harshaw Research will ultimately become an investor. This approach to patentability is obviously a marketing determination and is evaluated based on Harshaw's unique experience in new product market development. The dominant view of intellectual property rights is economic incentive.
Intellectual property is solely a creation of society.
Legal protection, in the form of a limited monopoly, is granted to creative individuals as an economic incentive to create. In exchange for disclosing their inventions to the public, inventors are granted a limited monopoly in the form of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. The economic philosophy behind the clause empowering Congress to grant patents, copyrights, and trademarks is the conviction that encouraging individual effort by personal gain is the best way to advance public welfare through the talents of authors and inventors in science and the useful arts. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks encourage innovation by rewarding the creator with the right, limited to a term of years, to exclude others from certain uses of the writing or invention.