This document provides an introduction to intellectual property. It discusses that intellectual property laws attempt to protect innovative ideas and creations by allowing thinkers to benefit financially from their inventions. There are different types of intellectual property protections including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and design rights. The document outlines what each type protects such as copyright protecting literary and artistic works, trademarks protecting business brands, patents protecting new inventions, and design rights protecting the appearance of products. Businesses must apply for registered protections like trademarks, patents, and design rights, while copyright and some design rights arise automatically upon creation.
This document provides an introduction to intellectual property. It discusses that intellectual property laws attempt to protect innovative ideas and creations by allowing thinkers to benefit financially from their inventions. There are different types of intellectual property protections including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and design rights. The document outlines what each type protects such as copyright protecting literary and artistic works, trademarks protecting business brands, patents protecting new inventions, and design rights protecting the appearance of products. Businesses must apply for registered protections like trademarks, patents, and design rights, while copyright and some design rights arise automatically upon creation.
This document provides an introduction to intellectual property. It discusses that intellectual property laws attempt to protect innovative ideas and creations by allowing thinkers to benefit financially from their inventions. There are different types of intellectual property protections including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and design rights. The document outlines what each type protects such as copyright protecting literary and artistic works, trademarks protecting business brands, patents protecting new inventions, and design rights protecting the appearance of products. Businesses must apply for registered protections like trademarks, patents, and design rights, while copyright and some design rights arise automatically upon creation.
-Most countries throughout the world have developed a series of rules that attempt to protect the results of innovative thinking; and these are generally referred to as Intellectual Property.
- Essentially the value that is gained or added to
a business or product from a creative process. There are a lot of different kinds of Intellectual Property laws, but they all have the same goal; to allow creative thinkers to benefit financially from and to protect their inventions/ creations. How does Intellectual Property Law Work?
-IP laws are designed to try and protect business assets.
The kind of IP laws that will be relevant to a business depend on the types of asset a business has. However some of the business assets that will normally merit the protection of IP laws include business brands; photographs; books; computer software; and paintings. Why Should You Protect Your Assets?
-One may question why there is a need to go through
what might appear to be a complicated process of using IP laws to protect business assets. An unfortunate reality of operating in the commercial world is that competitors and imitators or ‘copycats’ will attempt to use the products of business that have invested time, money and energy in the development of their brands and products to their benefit. If a business makes use of IP laws to protect its assets, this reduces the likelihood of competitors copying their ideas. In some circumstances, business rivals will still hope to make subtle changes to designs in the hope of avoiding claims of IP infringement. However, some IP laws will guard against even subtly changed products from entering the market. Why Should You Protect Your Assets?
-One may question why there is a need to go through
what might appear to be a complicated process of using IP laws to protect business assets. An unfortunate reality of operating in the commercial world is that competitors and imitators or ‘copycats’ will attempt to use the products of business that have invested time, money and energy in the development of their brands and products to their benefit. If a business makes use of IP laws to protect its assets, this reduces the likelihood of competitors copying their ideas. In some circumstances, business rivals will still hope to make subtle changes to designs in the hope of avoiding claims of IP infringement. However, some IP laws will guard against even subtly changed products from entering the market. What are the Different Kinds of Intellectual Property Rights?
-Most businesses develop and sell different kinds of
products in a given market. Modern IP law reflects this reality and a comprehensive set of rules have been developed to protect different kinds of business assets. COPYRIGHT Copyright is a kind of legal right that is designed to reward an individual or business for the creation of, and investment in a particular kind of product. In order for a particular kind of work or product to be protected under the legislation, there are very clear requirements that need to be met. The CDPA states that before something will be protected, it must fall within one of the following categories of work; literary, dramatic or musical work, films and sounds recordings, broadcasts, cable programmes or published editions. It is important to note however, that the Act does not allow artistic works, films or broadcasts that were made before 1 June 1957, or cable programmes made before 1 January 1985 to benefit from Copyright protection.
The creator or author of a piece of work, which falls within the
categories outlined above under the CDPA that holds the copyright. Unlike many other kinds of protections afforded to creative works, copyright does not require any form of application process. Under a number of international agreements, copyright will arise automatically. Trade Marks A Trade Mark is another branch of the IP regime in the UK. They are commonly discussed in relation to businesses, and their brand. One of the ways that businesses differentiate themselves from their competitors is to create a brand or corporate image that identifies it as distinct and unique among its competitors. It is not uncommon that a great deal of time, effort and money has been spent on creating a brand that will be a good representation of a business. However, the brand of a business is vulnerable to imitation by competitors if not properly guarded. This can be achieved by a business registering its brand as their Trade Mark. In law, a business’s brand is its Trade Mark. Examples of this include WHSmith and Nike.
Assuming that a business brand meets the necessary criteria, it
is the business that holds the Trade Mark. However, as mentioned above, a business must apply to the IPO to demonstrate that its brand is sufficiently distinct to warrant Trade Mark protection. Patents Businesses operating in the creative industries often need to break technological boundaries, in order to survive in such a competitive environment. This normally involves a significant investment in time and expertise. As a reward for a business’s investment, Patents allow new inventions to be protected. To be more precise, a Patent is designed to protect not only a new inventions but also how it works. If a Patent is awarded to a particular invention in the UK, this protects it under British civil law. This means that no one will be able to make, use, import or sell the invention that is protected by the Patent within the UK, without the owner’s permission A Patent, like many other kinds of IP right, does not arise automatically. Where a business or individual is looking to protect their invention, they must apply to the IPO. Design Rights Intellectual Property law is a fairly well understood system in the UK. However, of all the kinds of legal protection afforded to the results of one or another creative process, Design Rights are often the most unheard of. When a product is made or developed it will have a particular appearance, or a ‘Design’. Businesses and inventors will often hope to protect some or all of the appearance of a given product, and this is where Design Rights can become useful. It is important to note that there are two ways to protect the design of a product; By ‘Registered Design’ Registered Designs are a more formal kind of legal protection afforded to products than Design Rights. They give the complete right of ownership over the look of a product. However, unlike Design Rights, a Registered Design must be applied for from the IPO. Registered Designs will only be granted where a look is sufficiently novel, compared to other products already available in a given market.
The individual or business that applies to the IPO to
have Registered Design Rights will own them, following a successful application. However it is important to note that Registered Designs, like unregistered Design Rights, can be sold or licensed. Thank you for not listening!