Intellectual property rights

Intellectual Property
• Definition: Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind,
such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs, symbols,
names, and images used in commerce.
Intellectual Property rights
• Intellectual property rights (IPR) are legal protections for creators.
• These rights safeguard original works, inventions, and product
appearances.
• Creations include artistic works, scientific developments, and more.
Intellectual property rights
• These rights have contributed enormously to the world, in particular
economically.
• Many companies in various industries rely on the enforcement of
their patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
• Consumers can also be assured of quality when purchasing IP-backed
products.
Intellectual property rights
• The purpose of intellectual property rights is to encourage new
creations, including technology, artwork, and inventions, that might
increase economic growth.
• Intellectual property rights increase the incentives for individuals to
continue to produce things that further create job opportunities and
new technologies while enabling our world to improve and evolve
even faster.
Types of intellectual property rights
There are four types of intellectual property rights (IP):
• patents
• trademarks
• copyrights
• trade secrets.
Patents
• A patent is used to prevent an invention from being created, sold, or used
by another party without permission.
• Patents are the most common type of intellectual property rights that
come to people’s minds when they think of intellectual property rights
protection.
• A patent owner has every right to commercialize his/her patent, including
buying and selling the patent or granting a license to the invention to any
third party under mutually agreed terms
• Example of a patent can be Wright Brothers patent for airplane, Thomas
Edison’s patent for light bulb.
• It can be further categorized into 3 types. That are utility , design and plant.
Utility
• A utility patent protects the creation of new or improved products,
processes, compositions of matter, or machines that are useful.
• In addition, once a utility patent is granted, the patent owner will
have the right to exclude anyone from making, using, or selling this
invention for 20 years, starting from the date the patent application
was filed.
• An example of utility patent can be a method for a driver assistance
system of a vehicle.
Design
• A design patent only protects the ornamental characteristics and the
appearance of a product, but not the structural and functional
features.
• Since design patents and utility patents provide completely different
areas of intellectual property protection, you can apply for both utility
and design patents for the same product.
• Unlike utility patents, design patents have a 15-year term.
• An example of design patent can be an electric bicycle
Plant
• A plant patent protects new kinds of plants that have been
reproduced asexually.
• This means that the plant has been reproduced by seeds, cuttings, or
other nonsexual means.
• Also, it cannot be a tuber-propagated plant or a plant that is still
uncultivated.
• Plant patents also have a 20-year term.
• An example of plant patent can be Crapemyrtle plant.
Trademark
• Trademarks are another familiar type of intellectual property rights
protection.
• A trademark is a distinctive sign that allows consumers to identify the
particular goods or services a company provides easily.
• Some examples include McDonald’s golden arch, the Facebook logo,
and so on.
• A trademark can come in the form of text, a phrase, symbol, sound,
smell, or color scheme.
• Unlike patents, a trademark can protect a set or class of products or
services instead of just one product or process.
Copyrights
• A legal right granted to an intellectual property owner is copyright. It
helps protect the creator of the original material so that no one can
duplicate or use it without authorization. If an original work needs
protection through copyright laws, it must be in a tangible form.
Copyright
• Copyright does not protect ideas.
• Instead, it only covers “tangible” forms of creations and original
work–for example, art, music, architectural drawings, or even
software codes.
• The copyright owner has the exclusive right to sell, publish, and/or
reproduce any literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, or architectural
work created by the author.
Trade secret
• Trade secrets are the secrets of a business.
• They are proprietary systems, formulas, strategies, or other
confidential information and are not meant for unauthorized
commercial use by others.
• Example of a trade secret includes the Coca cola recipe.
• This is a critical form of protection that can help businesses gain a
competitive advantage.
Advantages of intellectual property rights
• Competitive Edge Over Other Alike Businesses: IP protection inevitably gives
an ability to have a competitive edge over other similar business in the
market. This will make the companies with the IP protection tension free
because their business operation is secure because the same businesses in
the market won’t be able to copy, use or manufacture the same product.
• IP Helps In Enhancing The Company’s Value: Intellectual property helps in
generating more income for the business through the sale or licensing
agreements of the invention.
• IP Aids In Marketing The Company’s Products And Services: It can help in
differentiating one business over the other in order to attract more potential
customers. Thus, it boosts the marketing of the registered products.
Advantages of intellectual property rights
• Obtaining Finance Becomes Easy: It becomes easy to obtain finance
from financial institutions and lenders since it enhances the credibility
with the IP protection.
• Greater Export Opportunities: It increases competitive edge in the
export markets and to deal with the products and services
internationally.
Disadvantages of intellectual property rights
• Additional Costs: For getting the protection for the first time, it could
be bit expensive particularly if the product is complex and involves
methods, designs, and processes.
• Pirating: Even after getting the IP protection, it sometimes becomes
difficult to stop someone who is copying the inventory work.
• Reduced Quality: With the passage of time, as the rights of
intellectual property reduces so does the quality of the IP decreases.