Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

INDIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)

COPYRIGHT | TRADEMARK | PATENT 

The Intellectual Property Law has been the fastest growing legal field in recent years especially in INDIA. It is pretty obvious that without having the assurance of security regarding one’s innovation, creative works or a brand, it is unlikely that companies or individuals will be willing to give their time, effort and money into such projects.

Most of the time people are confused or have incorrectly used the terms in intellectual property law. They have spoken of "copyrighting" an idea or even "patenting" a book! To understand these terms, it is essential to know what is Intellectual Property and what all does it entail.

The Intellectual Property define as - Creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

COPYRIGHT

Copyrights were created to protect ownership of artistic works, including artsy, literary, musical and theatrical creations. Intellectual goods protected by copyrights include poetry, music, songs, motion pictures, novels, architecture, paintings and even computer software and digital creations.

Ideas cannot be copyrighted, however, a tangible form of the idea can be. In artistic works, copyright generally lasts for the duration of the author’s life in addition to 60 years following their death.

Benefits & Validity of Copyright 

Copyrighting provides a person with legal evidence and public notice of ownership. A person can be sued in a court for infringement of copyright provided one has the papers in place. A copyright is valid for a lifetime.

TRADEMARK

A trademark can be defined as a word, symbol, design, and/or phrase which is used to identify and differentiate the source of goods from other similar parties. A somewhat similar right is the service mark, which affords the same protection rights to services rather than goods.

Businesses make use of certain names, symbols, words, and designs when trading goods or services to distinguish themselves as the source of certain goods, products and services. The term “trademark” is frequently used to refer to service marks as well as trademarks.

Benefits & Validity of Trademark 

Registering a trademark enhances the rights of a person by providing legal evidence and public notice of ownership. It is proof enough of a nationwide exclusive right to the mark and allows the holder to sue an infringer if the case calls for it. Registered trademarks can use the ® symbol. Though a trademark is valid for an unlimited period of time, it must be renewed every 10 years.

PATENT RIGHT

Patents are intellectual property rights granted to inventions. Materials which are patentable include industrial processes, machines, chemical compositions, and manufactured commodities and artifacts.

Patents belong to the inventor, or otherwise, to the individual or organization, he gives the rights to. Patent owners may license it, enabling others to make use of their invention, or they may sell it.

Benefits & Validity of Patent Right

When a patent is filed, the owner gets an exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing the protected invention. A patent protects an invention for 20 years, but it cannot be renewed. A provisional patent lasts for about a year. Each of these is distinct. However, sometimes a product can come into one or more of these categories. An example is a software. The code of the software will be protected by a copyright, while the functional expression of the idea will be protected by a patent. The name of the company or the software will come under a trademark!

Protecting an intellectual property is a very complex process that keeps evolving with each step during its life cycle, be it during its innovation, research, or development. Thus, a single product can have a patentable feature, a creative angle protected by copyright, and a source of the product that is trademarked.