What Is Intellectual Property ? InfoCons Consumer Protection informs you about Intellectual Property Rights !
Intellectual property (IP) refers to legal rights that safeguard creations of the intellect. These rights are generally divided into four primary categories, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, alongside additional specialized protections such as industrial designs and plant breeders’ rights. IP protection enables inventors, businesses, and artists to obtain financial rewards, control the use of their work, and gain proper recognition for their innovations, brands, and creative outputs.
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Four Main Categories of Intellectual Property
Patents:
Patents protect inventions that are new, useful, and not obvious. They give the patent holder exclusive rights to manufacture, use, and sell the invention for a specific period, usually up to 20 years.
Trademarks:
Trademarks safeguard distinctive signs used in trade, such as brand names, logos, slogans, and symbols, that help consumers identify and differentiate goods or services from competitors.
Copyrights:
Copyright protects original creative works including books, music, films, artwork, and software. In many jurisdictions, copyright protection arises automatically once the work is created and fixed in a tangible form.
Trade Secrets:
Trade secrets cover confidential business information (such as formulas, methods, processes, or algorithms) that provides a competitive edge. Protection can potentially last indefinitely, as long as the information remains secret.
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Additional Specialized Forms of IP
Industrial Designs:
Industrial design rights protect the aesthetic or decorative features of a product, focusing on how it looks rather than how it works.
Plant Breeders’ Rights:
These rights protect newly developed plant varieties that are distinct, uniform, and stable, granting breeders control over the propagation and commercialization of their plants.
Circuit Layout Rights:
These rights protect the three-dimensional configuration and layout design of integrated circuits and semiconductor chips.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP):
ICIP safeguards traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, and heritage belonging to Indigenous communities, often emphasizing collective ownership rather than individual rights.
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Signature : InfoCons Intellectual Property Department
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