| |
What is Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is an intangible property or proprietary asset,
which applies to any product of the human intellect that has commercial
value.
Intellectual Property Rights (I P Rights) are one’s legal rights in
respect of the ‘property’ created by one’s mind – such as an invention, or
piece of music, or an artistic work, or a name or slogan or symbol, or a
design, which is used in commerce, in the form of books, music, computer
software, designs, technological know-how, trade symbols, etc.
These rights are largely covered by the laws governing Patents,
Trademarks, Copyright and Designs. These various laws protect the holder
of IP rights from third party encroachment of these rights. It also allows
them to exercise various exclusive rights over their intellectual
property.
Intellectual property laws and enforcement vary widely from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction. There are inter-governmental efforts to
harmonise them through international treaties such as the 1994 World Trade
Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPs), while other treaties may facilitate registration
in more than one jurisdiction at a time.
With companies, institutions and individuals constantly forging ahead
in newer fields and geographical territories and with path breaking
inventions becoming the norm, the field of Intellectual Property Rights
has assumed primordial importance, especially in emerging economies like
India.
Patents are exclusive rights granted by the Government to a
company/individual for an invention. Patents are time bound, in India for
instance, patents are granted for a period of 20 years from the date of
filing of the patent application. It is also to be noted that the patents
are valid only within the territory where they have been granted.
A Trademark is a word, or symbol, or phrase, or design, or any
combination of these, which identifies and distinguishes the source or
origin of a product or service. Other forms of identifying features which
have come to be recognised as trademarks include particular colour
combinations, smells and sounds (for example, an advertisement jingle),
textures, packaging, shapes, etc.
A Design refers to the features of shape, configuration, pattern,
ornamentation or composition of lines or colours applied to any article,
in two or three dimensional (or both) forms. It may be applied by any
industrial process or means (manual, mechanical or chemical) separately or
by a combined process, which in the finished article appeals to and is
judged solely by the eye.
Copyright is the right of the creator, say an artist, author, producer
of films etc., who has created a particular work by use of their artistic
skills.
Copyright includes literary, dramatic and artistic works such as
novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as
drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural
designs, as well as computer software. Rights related to copyright also
include those of performing artistes in their performances, producers of
phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio
and television programs.
|
|
Patents
Trademarks