INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP)
- a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a
design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent,
copyright, trademark, etc.
- refers to creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to
designated owners by law. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the
protections granted to the creators of IP, and
include trademarks, copyright, patents, industrial design rights, and in some
jurisdictions trade secrets. Artistic works including music and literature, as
well as discoveries, inventions, words, phrases, symbols, and designs can
all be protected as intellectual property. (Wikipedia)
- While intellectual property law has evolved over centuries, it was not until
the 19th century that the term intellectual property began to be used, and
not until the late 20th century that it became commonplace in the majority of
the world. (Wikipedia)
Copyright (Wikipedia)
- is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an
original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. This is usually only
for a limited time. The exclusive rights are not absolute but limited
by limitations and exceptions to copyright law, including fair use. A major
limitation on copyright is that copyright protects only the original expression
of ideas, and not the underlying ideas themselves.
- Copyright is a form of intellectual property, applicable to certain forms of
creative work. Some, but not all jurisdictions require "fixing" copyrighted
works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of
whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are
commonly referred to as rightsholders. These rights frequently include
reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance,
and "moral rights" such as attribution.
- Copyrights are considered territorial rights, which means that they do not
extend beyond the territory of a specific jurisdiction. While many aspects of
national copyright laws have been standardized through international
copyright agreements, copyright laws vary by country.
- Typically, the duration of a copyright spans the author's life plus 50 to 100
years (that is, copyright typically expires 50 to 100 years after the author
dies, depending on the jurisdiction). Some countries require certain
copyright formalities to establishing copyright, but most recognize copyright
in any completed work, without formal registration. Generally, copyright is
enforced as a civil matter, though some jurisdictions do
apply criminal sanctions.
- Most jurisdictions recognize copyright limitations, allowing "fair" exceptions
to the creator's exclusivity of copyright and giving users certain rights. The
development of digital media and computer network technologies have
prompted reinterpretation of these exceptions, introduced new difficulties in
enforcing copyright, and inspired additional challenges to copyright law's
philosophic basis. Simultaneously, businesses with great economic
dependence upon copyright, such as those in the music business, have
advocated the extension and expansion of copyright and sought additional
legal and technological enforcement.
Trademark (Wikipedia)
- is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which
identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others,
although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service
marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or
any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label,
a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity,
trademarks are often displayed on company buildings.
Service Mark a legally registered name or designation used in the
manner of a trademark to distinguish an organization's services from those
of its competitors.
Patent a government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period,
especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention.
Patent (Wikipedia)
- is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or
assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public
disclosure of an invention. An invention is a solution to a specific
technological problem and is a product or a process.[1]:17 Patents are a form
of intellectual property.
- The procedure for granting patents, requirements placed on the patentee,
and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries
according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however,
a granted patent application must include one or more claims that define the
invention. A patent may include many claims, each of which defines a
specific property right. These claims must meet
relevant patentability requirements, such as novelty, usefulness, and non-
obviousness. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is
the right to prevent others, or at least to try to prevent others, from
commercially making, using, selling, importing, or distributing a patented
invention without permission.
- Under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, patents should be available in WTO
member states for any invention, in all fields of technology,[4] and the term of
protection available should be a minimum of twenty years. [5] Nevertheless,
there are variations on what is patentable subject matter from country to
country.
Geographical Indication (Wikipedia)
- is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific
geographical location or origin (e.g. a town, region, or country). The use of a
geographical indication may act as a certification that the product possesses
certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a
certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.
e.g. Nepal tea, Pinggu Peaches, Roquefort Cheese, etc.
 - As one particular aspect of protection of undisclosed information, protection
of test data and, in particular, protection of confidential test data on clinical
Industrial Design (Wikipedia) trials, has attracted growing attentions. In order to obtain marketing
- is a process of design applied to products that are to be manufactured authorization of any new pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical product, in
through techniques of mass production. Its key characteristic is that design general, test data have to be submitted to regulatory agencies, which
is separated from manufacture: the creative act of determining and defining require an independent evaluation of the quality, safety and efficiency of
a product's form and features takes place in advance of the physical act of those medicines or other substances. The type and term of test data
making a product, which consists purely of repeated, often automated, protection, in some countries data exclusivity, determines how early
replication.This distinguishes industrial design from craft-based design, generic competition with the originator product can begin. The confidentiality
where the form of the product is determined by the product's creator at the of such data is following particular rules on trade secrecy.
time of its creation.
- All manufactured products are the result of a design process, but the nature
of this process can take many forms: it can be conducted by an individual or
a large team; it can emphasize intuitive creativity or calculated scientific
decision-making, and often emphasizes both at the same time; and it can
be influenced by factors as varied as materials, production
processes, business strategy and prevailing social, commercial or aesthetic
attitudes. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design
solutions for problems of form, function, usability, physical ergonomics,
marketing, brand development, and sales.

Layout Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits (Wikipedia)

- are a field in the protection of intellectual property.
- In United States intellectual property law, a "mask work" is a two or three-
dimensional layout or topography of an integrated circuit(IC or "chip"), i.e.
the arrangement on a chip of semiconductor devices such
as transistors and passive electronic components such as resistors and
interconnections. The layout is called a mask work because,
in photolithographic processes, the multiple etched layers within actual ICs
are each created using a mask, called the photomask, to permit or block the
light at specific locations, sometimes for hundreds of chips on
a wafer simultaneously.
- Because of the functional nature of the mask geometry, the designs cannot
be effectively protected under copyright law (except perhaps as decorative
art). Similarly, because individual lithographic mask works are not clearly
protectable subject matter, they also cannot be effectively protected
under patent law, although any processes implemented in the work may be
patentable. So since the 1990s, national governments have been granting
copyright-like exclusive rights conferring time-limited exclusivity to
reproduction of a particular layout. (Wikipedia)

Protection of Undisclosed Information (WIPO)

- Not all innovative techniques and accompanying know-how can always be
protected by patent law. Broadly speaking, any confidential business
information which provides an enterprise a competitive edge and is kept
secret may be protected as a trade secret. The unauthorized acquisition,
use or disclosure of such secret information in a manner contrary to honest
commercial practices by others is regarded as an unfair practice and a
violation of the trade secret protection.