Intellectual property (IP) is a term referring to creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to designated owners by law.
Full Answer
The main purpose of intellectual property laws is to protect the person who created the intellectual property from those who would use it for their own benefit without permission.
Intellectual property (IP) pertains to any original creation of the human intellect such as artistic, literary, technical, or scientific creation. Intellectual property rights (IPR) refers to the legal rights given to the inventor or creator to protect his invention or creation for a certain period of time.
What is Intellectual Property? refers to "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce." Types of IP.
It gives the owner of the property the opportunity to share their creations with limited competition and protects the company's competitive point of differentiation. Intellectual property rights can sometimes be an extremely valuable bargaining tool rights, and it can be sold for financial gain.
IP ensures you are recognised as the creator of such things as an invention; literary and artistic works; designs and software. To protect these types of IP there are: registrable rights - IP Rights (IPRs) such as patents, trademarks and design rights; and. unregistered rights such as copyright.
Strong and Enforced Intellectual Property Rights Protect Consumers and Families. Strong IP rights help consumers make an educated choice about the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of their purchases. Enforced IP rights ensure products are authentic, and of the high-quality that consumers recognize and expect.
Utility patents: for tangible inventions, such as products, machines, devices, and composite materials, as well as new and useful processes. Design patents: the ornamental designs on manufactured products. Plant patents: new varieties of plants.
Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.
Examples of intellectual property are books, songs, movies, paintings, inventions, chemical formulas, and computer programs.
Generally, the creator of a work is deemed its owner. However, intellectual property ownership can be determined differently for different types of property and under varying circumstances. For example, if work is created for an employer, the employer is the owner of that intellectual property.
Intellectual property helps in developing and maintaining company's long term revenue streams and increase shareholder's value. IP also helps companies to protect technology innovations and gain competitive advantage.
Intellectual Property Creates and Supports High-Paying Jobs IP-intensive industries employ over 45 million Americans, and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Jobs in IP-intensive industries are expected to grow faster over the next decade than the national average.
Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are valuable assets of the company and understanding how they work and how they are created is critical to knowing how to protect them.
5 common types of intellectual propertyCopyright. Copyright protects creative works like computer code, photographs, artwork, and text. ... Moral Rights. Moral rights are related to copyright. ... Trademarks. Trademarks offer protection for your branding. ... Patents. ... Trade Secrets. ... The sooner, the better.
Examples of intellectual property include an author's copyright on a book or article, a distinctive logo design representing a soft drink company and its products, unique design elements of a web site, or a patent on a particular process to, for example, manufacture chewing gum.
Knowledge emerges in network relationships between an enterprise and its surrounding organisations, and can be legally protected as intellectual property (IP).
Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, and Trade Secrets. Trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets are the main categories of intellectual property rights and they work differently under the law. Bell explains how each intellectual property right works:
IP protects original works of the mind, such as literary and artistic works, inventions, designs, and company names.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") grants patents and trademarks, while the United States Copyright Office ("Copyright Office") allows people to register works of art, literature, software code, etc., as copyrights. Trade secrets involve specific information for formulas or recipes, intentionally maintained as a secret ...
Trademarks normally protect brands and the logos used on goods and services. For instance, the word "Coca-Cola" in its cursive script is a trademark. These are the steps to obtain a trademark: 1 File an application and select what types of goods and services you want to use for the trademark. 2 A trademark examiner reviews the application to determine if anyone has already registered the same or similar mark. If not, the trademark is published in a public register to allow anyone to object. 3 If there is no objection, the trademark is approved. 4 A trademark remains in effect for potentially unlimited consecutive 10-year periods as long as the owner meets the legal requirements for renewals.
Patents protect novel ideas, processes, and inventions. After inventors file a patent application with the USPTO, an examiner reviews it and determines if the invention is patentable and has not been previously invented by another individual.
A registered copyright normally lasts for the author's lifetime plus an additional 70 years.
If there is no objection, the trademark is approved. A trademark remains in effect for potentially unlimited consecutive 10-year periods as long as the owner meets the legal requirements for renewals.
Providing exclusive rights to intellectual property gives individuals and entities incentive to invest in the development of ideas. Investment into research and development of patented inventions, as well as implementation and production, bolsters the U.S. economy to the tune of over $5 trillion, according to a 2013 U.S. Patent & Trademark Office report. This in turn creates employment opportunities for about 18 million Americans.
The ownership of intellectual property is categorized into four groups: copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secrets . Ownership of such property provides exclusive rights, providing the owner protection against unauthorized use of their creative works. To explore this concept, consider the following intellectual property definition.
Because a license assigns a limited right to use intellectual property for a specific purpose, it is vital that the exact nature of that purpose be set out in writing . The IP owner (“licensor”) should maintain ownership rights, specifying whether the “licensee” is allowed to reproduce, sell, or otherwise use the item, and whether that right may be assigned to another. Exactly what is allowed under the licensing agreement is up to the parties, but should be stated very specifically.
Additionally, intellectual property rights themselves are considered assets called “intangible property,” and are protected under the same laws. Other items protected by IP rights include:
While the owner of intellectual property may retain exclusive rights to use the item, whether for personal gratification or monetary gain, it is possible for the owner to make money by charging others a fee for using the creative work or invention through the issuance of a “license.” The use of a licensing agreement protects the IP owner’s proprietary rights while giving someone else permission to use the property for a set period of time, or for a specific activity or purpose.
Intangible Asset – An asset that has no physical substance, such as creative works, reputation, knowledge, copyrights, and patents. Real Property – Land and property attached or fixed directly to the land, including buildings and structures.
The original reasoning behind IP laws was that creators did not have sufficient incentive to produce and reveal their works unless they could be guaranteed the full social and monetary value. IP laws treat intellectual property ownership, in many ways, like ownership of real property.
Far too often, researchers are misinformed about the role and the possibilities arising around patents and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). In this course we will teach you what IPR are - with a special focus on patents. Also this course will look at the importance of patents in the world of biotechnology - and what you actually can patent.
An introduction to the important subjects within the field of patenting, such as novelty and “person skilled in the art”. By Federico De Masi
Explain why the creation and protection of intellectual property is so important to business.
Reading: Intellectual Property, Ch. 13 from Government Regulation and the Legal Environment of Business by Mayer.
Video: Introduction to Intellectual Property: A Crash Course (10:09). In addition to introducing you to the types of intellectual property, the video also discusses the importance of IP law to protect innovation and the rights of creators.
Reading: Importance of Obtaining a Trademark for Business Introduces the function of trademarks, how a mark qualifies or is eligible for trademark protection, and the extent of that protection.
Reading: How to Use a Contract to Protect Your Invention.
Video: Patent Law Overview (12:20) Professor Ida Jones explains patent law and provides simple, introductory examples to explain concepts as she goes over them.
Infographic: Classification of Trademarks. This infographic defines fanciful, arbitrary, suggestive, and descriptive trademarks, as well as those that are considered generic, and thus not protected as a trademark.
Intellectual property law is crucial to this process, protecting ideas and encouraging innovation.
In this course, students will learn to identify, assess, and implement new business opportunities within established organizations to drive and maintain competitive advantage. After completing this course, students will not only be able to formulate business models and develop processes to maximize entrepreneurial abilities, but also increase the overall entrepreneurial spirit of their organizations.