Intellectual Property Rights and Applicable Laws

Introduction/ Background

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is one of the organization's program specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). The 'World Intellectual Property Organization Convention' was signed in 1967 in Stockholm and entered into force in 1970. However, the origin of the WIPO history goes back to 1883 and 1886, respectively with the adoption of the Paris Convention and the Berne Convention. Each of these agreements called for the development of foreign secretariats, all under the control of the Federal Government of Switzerland.

Meaning

“Intellectual property is a creation of mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works, design and symbols, names and images used in commerce”_ (World intellectual property organization). The main concept of intellectual property was established by the statute of monopolies (1624) and the British statute of Anne (1710) that shows the origins of patent and copyright.

Intellectual property is protected by the law where only the creators or inventors can enjoy full benefits or earn recognition. The main purpose of intellectual property law is to encourage the creation of a wide variety of intellectual goods.

Intellectual property is broadly categorized into two branches:

1. Industrial property
2. Copyright

Industrial property

Industrial property is the large group of intellectual property where intellectual property means creations of the mind. Commercial property rights take a number of forms involving patents for inventions, commercial designs (innovations relevant to the nature of consumer goods),  trademarks, brand marks, model designs of integrated circuits, trade names, and classifications, geographical markings, and security against unfair competition.

Copyright

Copyright is the exclusive right given to the creator of the creative work to reproduce the work usually for a limited time. The creative works relate to literary and artistic creation such as books, music, paintings and sculptures, film, and technology-based works. Copy rights can be also known as author rights. Duplication or the copying of the original works can be only done by the owners or with the permission from the owners. The author have certain specific rights in the creations that only they can exercise such as right to prevent distorted reproduction, the right to make copies, and with their permission other can make the copies. Those rights can be also known as a moral right.

Intellectual property rights (IPR)

Intellectual property rights involve patents, copyright, product design rights, trademarks, rights to plant diversity, brand identity, and geographical indication. There are also more unique types of sui generis exclusive protection such as circuit design rights and supplementary protection certificates for pharmaceutical products and database privacy.

Importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

There are many reasons why intellectual property rights are important. Of which few are listed below;

1. It allows individuals opportunities for new innovations or inventions.
2. It helps to remember and identify the original founders and inventors
3. It gives intellectual property with monetary benefits.
4. It also guarantees goods are available to customers in their original form.

The importance of protecting Intellectual Property

Therefore, knowing the importance of intellectual property rights, it is also important to know why we need to protect intellectual property. Intellectual property rights are valuable assets that every business needs to maintain properly in order to survive in the business world. They need to be protected because:

1. It can help in setting our business apart from competitors, this way one can offer customers with new and different products or services.
2. It can form essential part for marketing and branding of our products, it can be also used as security for loans.
3. It protects against any offence on our business and can defend in court with the right to use, make, sell and import it.
4. It can be sold and licensed and royalties can be earned through licensing it. This way money can be made also by selling it.
5. It can prevent other from using, making, selling, and importing it without our consent.
6. There is also a chance of IPR getting exploited by strategic alliances therefore, it is very important to protect these intellectual property rights properly by every business using it.

Types of Intellectual Property

Patent

Patent means granting a right to the patent owner by the government for the invention. As patent owners have sole right, other people are restricted from manufacturing and trading the goods without the consent of its owner.

The same patent that has been already introduced by one person or company cannot be used by another person. For example, if company B claim that it had been using a particular business method before company A obtained a patent on the process. In this situation, Company B’s use of the process was public, the government may invalidate company A’s patent. However, if company B used the method privately, the patent will remain valid, but company B can continue to use the method.

This is not only a situation that cannot be patented. Even if you make a new and useful scientific discovery that no one has ever thought of or invented, you cannot get a patent on it because you did not actually create the fact you discovered. However, if you came up with an invention that makes use of that fact, that invention can be patent.

Industrial design.

• Industrial design is an applied art to the products that are to be manufactured through the technique of mass production.
• It is concerned with all the human aspects of machine-made products and their relationship to people and the environment.
• A design makes a product attractive for the consumer, customizes products in order to target different customers and develop the brand.
• Look of the product or part of the product can be registered as a design but Copied design, similar to a design which already exists, manufacturing process, function, and ideas cannot be registered.

Trademarks

According to the Industrial Property Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan 2001, a “trademark is defined as any visible sign capable of distinguishing goods or services of an enterprise.” World Intellectual property Organization defines trademarks as a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. A trademark is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks.

Above are the definitions that we got from three different sources. Now, we will explain on the why it is important to have a trademark. The main purpose of having a trademark is to avoid or prevent other enterprises from stealing your name, slogan, and logo. One of the most important things that we should invest in our business is to safeguard the unique identity and symbol. Trademark safeguards both the businesses and consumers.

One of the best examples of trademark is the Apple trademark.

Types of trademarks

• Trademarks
• Service marks
• Strong trademarks
• Weak trade marks
• Trade names
• Trade dress
• Collective marks
• Certification marks

From the above types of trademarks, we will explain the definition of collective marks and trade names.

Collective mark

In the course pack, the definition of a collective mark is given as any visible sign designated as such in the application for registration capable of distinguishing the origin or any other common characteristic, including the quality of goods or services of different enterprises which use the sign under the control of the registered owner of the collective mark.

It is simply a trademark used to indicate membership in an organization. The key purpose of the collective mark is to notify customers of the various characteristics of the product on which it is being applied. The goods/products or services are also used to advertise them.

Trade Name

This means the name which distinguishes a company as a whole. Usually, an enterprise uses a trading name to conduct business using a simple name. In the business, a trade name is used which does not include the company's full legal name.

Related Article

The Importance of Intellectual Property to Businesses

Intellectual Property does not have precise meaning or definition. Intellectual Property can be divided into;

1. Patents
2. Copyrights
3. Database rights
4. Designs
5. Trademarks
6. Confidential Rights

Even though Intellectual property is intangible it is important as it can be sold or licensed. There are two types of forms of intellectual property. One should go through the process of registration and one can come without going through the process.

Confidential Rights

In a particular relationship between employers and employees, a bond of confidence may arise when a person gets confidential information, which is an important part in a business.

Copy Rights

A copyright is the right to protect certain acts from copying or to be copied by others. The duration of protecting rights will defer from work to work.

Database right

It is distinct from copyright, as the database right has a right to give permission to others who wants to reuse the data.

Designs

An industrial design right is an intellectual property right, which protects objects' visual design. An industrial design consists of the creation of a three-dimensional pattern or color shape, configuration or composition, or combination of patterns and colors. A concept is unique because nothing like it has previously been made available to the public and has a character of its own.

Patent

A patent is a kind of right given to an inventor or his successor-in-title by the government, granting the owner the right to prohibit others from producing, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing an invention for a limited time. From the date of approval, a full-term patent is registered for 20 years. When issued, a patent owner may issue other person licenses to use the invention and may charge a fee for such use.

Trademark

A trademark identifies goods and services by the protects words, phrases, symbols, sounds, smells, and color schemes. Trademarks are often considered assets that describe or otherwise identify the source of underlying products or services that a company provides. The ® symbol stands for the word 'Registered'. With a symbol of a trademark, it indicates that the trademark is registered and duly protected for specific products/services and its period of protection is 10 years but it can be renewed.

Conclusion

Specifically, intellectual property means the legal privileges that derive from creative activity in the commercial, science, literary, and artistic fields. Countries have laws for two key reasons which protect intellectual property. One is to provide a constitutional voice to the creators' moral and economic rights in their creations, and to the public's interests in obtaining these creations. The second is to promote innovation and the distribution and implementation of its findings as a conscious act of government policy and to facilitate free exchange that will lead to economic and social growth. The purpose of intellectual property law is to protect creators and other producers of intellectual products and services by granting them some time-limited rights to regulate the use of such goods and services. Such privileges do not refer to the actual body in which the creation may be represented, but to the creation of the intellect as well. Traditionally, intellectual property is divided into two branches: 'commercial property' and 'copyright.'

References

1. Group, E. M. (2013). Conflict of Law in intellactual Poperty. Europe: OUP Oxford.
2. Harms, L. (2018). A Case book on the Enforcement of Intellactual Property Right. WIPO.
3. Torremans, J. F. (1998). Intelactual Property International Law. Clarendon Press.
4. Trademark. (2020, April 19). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org
5. Types of intellectual property. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from WIPO: https://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/
6. What are Industrial Desing Rights and Design Patents. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from Affordable Legal Services, Free Legal Documents, Advice and Ask a Lawyer: https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/what-are-industrial-design-rights-and-design-patents-ps.rl