Kinds of Intellectual property

KINDS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property is the thoughts and ideas of human beings which can’t be touched or felt. These are known as intangible properties and have huge market in these days. There are many kinds of intellectual properties. In this essay we are going to see a brief account on the types. The main branches are Trademarks, patents, copyrights, Designs, confidential information and layout designs. In all these cases, there is a protection to the holder of intellectual property rights against unfair competition. 

COPYRIGHT: 

Copyright in simple terms means the exclusive right to copy or reproduce the work for which the author has got the Copyright. It is the right to do or authorizing others to do certain acts in literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, cinema film and sound recording. Copyright is the product of human skill and his mental capacity of some creative and original work. Copyright is protected and safeguarded by the Copyright Act of 1957. Copyright has its origin in the beginning of 20th century, after printing technology was invented and the literacy rate started growing among people. There are many international conventions in copyrights like Berne convention 1886, Universal copyright convention 1940, Inter American copyright convention 1889 etc., which emphasized the need for enacting Copyright laws to protect the authors of ideas and to recognize their rights to use and monetarily gain by such use. These copyright works will be protected for author’s life plus 50 years.

PATENT RIGHT: 

In the patent right, the patentee has the exclusive right to use the invention patented to grant licenses to other or to sell that right to a third person. The invention may be anything, it may be a new idea or the idea to improving the exiting machine or process. These are governed by the Patent Act, 1970. The person who gets this right is known as the patentee. This patentee has the right for the patented products for up to 20 years from the date of registration. After that the idea will become the public property and everyone can use that. 

TRADEMARK: 

By registering a trademark, the owner of the registered trademark will be prevented from others by using his trademark or similar trademarks. Trademarks includes everything in the business from name, its font, its pronunciation, designs everything will come under the trademark. The things which are under trademark can be protected even it is registered or not. The rules regarding Trademark are governed by Trademarks Act, 1999. 

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS: 

It is the exclusive right of the person who has developed the design to use and reap its benefits, he can also grant license for the use of third parties or assign the rights to third parties. The industrial designs are protected by Designs Act, 2000. 

LAY-OUT DESIGNS: 

Lay-out design means the three-dimensional designs, prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture. Integrated circuit means a product integrally formed and intended to perform an electronic function. In lay-out designs the designer has the exclusive right to apply for the registration of the layout design and also he can grant license for use by third party. 

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: 

Confidential information and know-how can be protected by the owner to keep them secret and he can take action against the unlawful use of such information by others by an action for breach of confidence or contract.