IPR-Intellectual Property Rights
Introduction
Intellectual property (IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions; and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related rights. Under intellectual property law, the holder of one of these abstract “properties” has certain exclusive rights to the creative work, commercial symbol, or invention by which it is covered.
According to The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), intellectual property includes rights relating to :
- Inventions in all fields of human endeavor.
- Scientific discoveries
- Trade marks, service marks and commercial names and designation
- Literary, artistic and scientific works
- Performances of performing artists, phonograms
- Protection against unfair competition and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic field.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copyright laws, which protect creative works such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software and gives the copyright holder exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time.
The second category is collectively known as “industrial properties”, as they are typically created and used for industrial or commercial purposes. A patent may be granted for a new, useful, and non-obvious invention, and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practising the invention without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time. A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to prevent confusion among products in the marketplace.
An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial object from infringement. A trade secret is an item of non-public information concerning the commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business. Public disclosure of trade secrets may sometimes be illegal.
The term “intellectual property” denotes the specific legal rights described above, and not the intellectual work itself.