IP rights help protect mind formation, including ideas, literary or artistic, pictures, symbols, etc. Intellectual property protection is important to ensure business longevity and presence in the market. Intellectual property law ensures that you benefit from your work when you create a product, publish a book or find a new medicine. Such rights defend your production or function against other people’s wrongful usage.
Types Of Intellectual Property Rights
Typically any IPR is divided into two parts;
- Copyrights and related rights
- Industrial property
Copyrights and Related rights
Copyright gives creator the right to protect their work, including databases, reference works, software, architecture, books, technical drawings, etc. In protecting your work, you ensure that people cannot use your copyright without your permission and thereby avoid unauthorized replication or use of your original content.
In order to protect an original work by copyright law, it must be in tangible form. Registration of copyright is not necessary for security. Registration is still encouraged because of the various benefits it provides. It requires first-hand proof of authorship, a legal formality intended to document publicly the essential details of a copyright etc. The copyright law provides for protection for the life of the author or creator and for a further 60 years after his death. The copyright belongs to the public domain and can be used without any restrictions.
Industrial Property
Industrial property rights contains the following;
Trademark:-
A trademark is a unique sign that identifies a product or service. In other language label capable of being depicted graphically and capable of distinguishing one person’s products or services from others’ products which may include a form of goods, their labeling which color combination. It can be a single word, or combining terms and numbers. Drawings, 3-D signs or symbols can be a trademark. For example , Google’s a popular trademark.
The application may be filed at national or regional level, depending on the extent of protection required. Trademark may include device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word letter, number, product shape, packaging or color combination or any such combination.
It protects and helps create the brand that is eminently important to a company’s growth. Remember, the first thing a consumer recognizes is the brand’s distinct identity, i.e. its name. The best example of this is the apparel industry. It has opened up new avenues for marketing and acts as a tool to earn and make huge profits. Hence, maintaining the exclusivity and uniqueness of the name is a company’s primary goal, which is exactly what trademark protection does.
Trademark registration secures brand owners from unfair rivals, such as copying counterfeiters, using identical names / logos to sell their inferior goods or services. Therefore, it facilitates fair competition and makes it easier for customers to make informed choices when purchasing goods / services from a specific business or brand.
Patent:-
An invention which introduces a new solution or technique is the sole right of a patent. When you have a patent, you are the only one who can create, manufacture, sell or use the commodity on a commercial basis.
An innovation must be original, non-obvious, and it must be useful, above all. It should be noted that this is not merely a model or an concept, but will illustrate practical usage and implementation in the current process. Twenty years from the date of filing, the patent proprietor has the exclusive right.
Like copyright, registration is a must because without it no intellectual property rights can be asserted unless it is a prior art because demands rights by passing away. The inventor generally becomes the owner of the copyright, but not, in the course of his / her jobs, the person or company under which he / she works is the original owner. The technology that powers cars is an example of a patented invention.
Geographical Indications
A geographical indication states that a commodity belongs to a specific region and has quality or popularity in that region. Tuscan olive oil is a geographically-protected commodity
Industrial Designs
An industrial design renders a product appealing and unique. This may include 3-D (object shape or surface) or 2-D (patterns or lines) characteristics. The type of a Coca-Cola glass bottle is an example of industrial design.
Conclusion: Broadening your IPR Understanding
The WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization controls intellectual property rights. WIPO harmonizes global policies and cross-border IPR security while also embracing the international limitations of trademark law. As a researcher, you rely on publications to establish or endorse a new hypothesis. You should also ensure that the copyright of the published work (pictures, quotes, statistics, details, etc.) is not infringed.
Make sure you provide the appropriate credit and avoid plagiarism using an effective paraphrasing, summarizing or quotation of necessary content when you refer to a book chapter or a research paper. It’s a serious violation to consider plagiarism! It is necessary to quote in your manuscript the original work. Copyright also includes pictures, figures, data, etc. Before using copyrighted pictures in manuscripts or theses, authors must obtain adequate written permission.