The more common forms of IPR are patents,
trade marks, copyright, design rights,
confidential information and know-how, and
all of these play an important role in the
innovation process.
Other very important, but specialised, forms of
IPR include plant variety rights (also plant
breeders’ rights) used in the plant breeding
industry, database rights for the ICT, Internet and
publishing sectors and chip topography rights
(also mask work rights) in the electronics and
computer chip manufacturing industries.
PATENTS
A patent is a legal title granted to an applicant
for protection of an invention. It is a registerable
form of IP. It must be applied for at a patent
office by submission of a ‘patent specification’
disclosing how the invention works. The patent is
granted for a limited period by the patent office,
acting as an instrument of the government in the
country in which the patent is applied for.
Conventions and treaties
Every country’s legislation includes
laws for the protection of IP, in which
there is a provision for patent laws
to govern the protection of
inventions in that country.
TRADE MARKS
A trade mark is the symbol by which the
goods of a particular manufacturer or
trader can be identified and
distinguished from the goods of others.
Trade marks and service marks provide
protection for the goodwill and
reputation of a company in its products
and services, as opposed to protection
of the products per se.
Registration of a Trade Mark
It may be possible in certain countries for
a company to assert ‘unregistered rights’
over a mark if it has been used by the
company in the marketplace for some
time and has become synonymous with
the company and its goods
COPYRIGHT
Copyright is a form of IP designed to
protect the rights of a creator of literary
and artistic works, computer programs and
databases. Copyright typically is enforced
to prevent copying, plagiarism, and misuse
of a work, but it does not prevent a third
party from independent development of
the idea or a similar work.
Registration of Copyright
there is no requirement to register
a work in order to obtain copyright
protection. However, the laws of
some countries do require
registration in order to have a
formal record of the work that is
protected by copyright.