Intellectual Property

Rights

PUTTU GURU PRASAD

INC GUNTUR
 What is IPR?
• Intellectual Property is the Property, which has been
created by exercise of intellectual faculty. It
is the result of persons' intellectual activities.
• Thus Intellectual Property refers to creation of the mind
such as inventions, designs for industrial articles,
literary, artistic work, symbols which are ultimately
used in commerce.
• Intellectual Property rights allow the creators or owners
to have the benefits from their works when these are
exploited commercially.
• These rights are statutory rights governed in accordance
with the provisions of corresponding legislations.
 Intellectual Capital Rights
• They are basically private rights
• Law confers this right with the sole purpose of
stimulating innovations and creativity.
• IPR have become commercial commodities in the
current scenario
• The law not only conveys an exclusive right to
the owner of the IP, but also grants the right to
reproduce, distribute and gain commercial returns
for their innovations and creation.
 IP Rights Classification
• Industrial Property and Copyright
• As per WIPO-
• World Intellectual Property Organization IP
Rights include the following rights-
• Literary, artistic and scientific works ( including
the performances of the performing artists,
phonograms, and broadcasts, and inventions in
all the fields of human endeavor)
• Scientific discoveries
• Industrial Designs
• Trademarks, services marks, and commercial
names and designations
• It includes the protection against unfair
competition
 TRIPS- Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights
 Copyright- The Copyright Act-1957
 Trademark- The Trade and Merchandise Marks, 1958 & Trade
marks Act, 1999
 Patents- The Indian Patents Act, 1970, The Indian Patents
Amendment Act, 2005
 Industrial designs- Designs Act, 2000
 Geographical indications- The Geographical Indications of Goods
( Registration and Protection ) Act, 1999
• Layout and Designs Integrated Circuits- The Semiconductor and
Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000
 Trade Secrets
 Traditional Knowledge
 Protection of Plant varieties- The Protection of Plant Varieties and
Farmers’ Rights Act,2001
 Copyrights
 Copyright- it protects any literacy, dramatic,
musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works,
it includes the protection of works like poetry, video
games, plays, paintings, sculpture, recorded music,
photography, choreography and architectural
designs, translation inclusive of the neighboring
rights ( printing, entertainment, audio, video,
broadcasting etc), etc
 E.g. Books, Research Articles, Art, Music etc can
be protected under the Copyright Laws
 In case of infringement of the rights
of the owner under this law, the owner
can make the person liable.
 Infringement &
Fair Use/ Fair Deal
 The infringement occurs, when without the consent of
the owner, the person copies, or uses the copyrighted
material without authorization.
 The offences are punishable under the law with
imprisonment and fine
 The copyright law allows some fair deal for the purpose
of research, study, criticism, review and news reporting,
as well as use of works in library and schools and in the
legislatures, if the copyrighted material is used without
specific permission of the copyright owners.
 Some of the exemptions are the uses
of the work
In order to protect the interests of users, some
exemptions have been prescribed in respect of
specific uses of works enjoying copyright.
 for the purpose of research or private study,
 for criticism or review,
 for reporting current events,
 in connection with judicial proceeding,
 performance by an amateur club or society if the
performance is given to a non-paying audience,
 and the making of sound recordings of literary,
dramatic or musical works under certain
conditions.
 Patents
• A patent is a legal monopoly granted for
a limited time to the owner of an
invention. It empowers the owner of an invention
to prevent others from manufacturing, using,
importing or selling the patented invention.
• The patent can related to a product patent or the
process patent
• In order to get a registration ,the product or the
process of invention must be something that is
new, useful and non-obvious.
• The person who has been granted this right is a
patentee, who has the exclusive right to use the
invention.
 Other requirements for
patent protection
• Filing of a patent application should be done before the
first public disclosure or offer for sale.
• Any unauthorized, use, sale or distribution of the
patented product or process amounts to infringement.
• The licensee can file a suit in the court ( District Court
or the High Court) for infringement
• The remedies are - order of injunction, damages or an
account of profit made by the person who has infringed
• The infringing goods can be seized, forfeited and also
destroyed as per the order of the court.
 Trade Marks
• A trade mark (it is easy to build the brand name) is
a visual symbol/ representation, which may be a
word signature, name, device, label, numerals or
combination of colors used by one undertaking on
goods or services or other articles of commerce to
distinguish it from other similar goods or services
originating from a different undertaking.
• It helps the owner in protection of its goodwill
• Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade
or agent can apply for registration.
• After registration the owner of the trade mark can
stop other traders from unlawfully using his trade
mark.
• The owner can sue for damages and secure
destruction of infringing goods and or labels.
• The owner has the exclusive right to the use
of the registered trade mark and indicate so
by using the symbol (R) in relation to the goods
or services in respect of which the mark is
registered.
• The remedies include a case for an action of
passing off, criminal action,
damages or an account of profits.
 Remedies

The Registration of trade mark performs four

functions:
• It identifies the goods / or services

and its origin

• It guarantees its unchanged quality

• It advertises the goods/services

• It creates an image for the goods/ services.

 Geographical Indications
• Meaning-
 GI is an indication, which originates from a definite geographical
territory. It is used to identify agricultural, natural or
manufactured goods.
 The manufactured goods should be produced or processed or
prepared in that territory. It should have a special quality or
reputation or other characteristics
Examples of possible Indian Geographical Indications.
• Basmati Rice,
• Darjeeling Tea,
• Mysore or Pochampalli or Kancheepuram Silk Saree
• Alphanso Mango or Nagpur Orange
• Kolhapuri Chappal
This is a Pochampalli
design saree
 Object of the GI
• The GI confers legal protection to Geographical
Indications in India and prevents unauthorized use of a
Registered Geographical Indication.

• Indian Geographical Indications can in turn boost exports

and promote economic prosperity of producers of goods
produced in a geographical territory.

Difference between TM and GI

• A trade mark is a sign which is used in the course of trade
and it distinguishes goods or services of one enterprise
from those of other enterprises,
whereas
• A geographical indication is an indication used to identify
goods having special characteristics originating from a
definite geographical territory.
 Designs ( Industrial Designs)
• 'Design' means only the features of shape, configuration,
pattern or ornament or composition of lines or color or
combination thereof applied to any article whether two
dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any
industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical
or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished
article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye.

• Article- means any article of manufacture and any

substance, artificial, or partly artificial and partly natural;
and includes any part of an article capable of being made
and sold separately.

• Designs Act, aims at protecting new or original designs

so created to be applied or applicable to particular article
to be manufactured by Industrial Process or means. The
subject matter of designs is ornamental designs and it
applies to the field of manufacturing, clothing and
automobiles.
 Trade Secrets
 Trade secrets" is the legal term for confidential business
information.

 A good non legal definition of a "trade secret" is a secret

belonging to a business. This information allows your
company to compete effectively.

 Examples of trade secrets include customer identities

and preferences, vendors, product pricing, marketing
strategies, company finances, manufacturing processes
and other competitively valuable information.
 Traditional Knowledge
 This form of protection focuses on the use of knowledge
such as traditional technical know-how, or traditional
ecological, scientific or medical knowledge.
 This encompasses the content or substance of traditional
know-how, innovations, information, practices, skills
and learning of TK systems such as traditional
agricultural, environmental or medicinal knowledge.
 These forms of knowledge can be associated with
traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) or expressions of
folklore, such as songs, chants, narratives, motifs and
designs.
 E.g. In India Neem is used as a medicine,
 Thai traditional healers use plao-noi to treat ulcers
 Plant Varieties- The Protection of Plant
Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act,2001
• It is an Act enacted to provide for the establishment of an
effective system for protection of plant varieties, the rights
of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the
development of new varieties of plants.
• It also considers it necessary to recognize and protect the
rights of the farmers in respect of their contribution made
at any time in conserving, improving and making available
plant genetic resources for the development of new plant
varieties; and to accelerate agricultural development in the
country.
 Other objectives of the Act
 It is necessary to protect plant breeders’ rights to
stimulate investment for research and development,
both in the public and private sectors, for the
development of new plant varieties.
 It is aimed that, such protection will facilitate the
growth of the seed industry in the country which will
ensure the availability of high quality seeds and
planting material to the farmers.
Finally, it can be concluded that, in the present
context of economic development, IPR is valued
higher than that of the physical assets of the any
company