Demystifying “Intellectual Property”

According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is an intangible asset to a company. It gives business partners and financial institutions the confidence to invest in or collaborate with the organisation.

Non-lawyers often think that a same law applies/governs to patent, trademark, copyright etc. Well the truth is although all fall under a common umbrella called IP however these laws originated separately, evolved differently and covers different aspects.

In Richard M. Stallman's article "Did You Say “Intellectual Property? It's a Seductive Mirage" he mentions that for instance, Copyright law was designed to promote authorship and art, and covers the details of expression of a work. Patent law was intended to promote the publication of useful ideas, at the price of giving the one who publishes an idea a temporary monopoly over it—a price that may be worth paying in some fields and not in others. Trademark law, by contrast, was not intended to promote any particular way of acting, but simply to enable buyers to know what they are buying. Legislators under the influence of the term “intellectual property”, however, have turned it into a scheme that provides incentives for advertising.

So what are the different types of Intellectual Property? The prominent types are classified as under:

All laws around the above have been developed independently and they are different in every detail, as well as in their basic purposes and methods.

Patents:

It refers to a grant of some privilege, property, or authority made by a government or the sovereign of the country to one or more individuals. The patent system is the mode of protecting “inventions” that are “new and useful”. The requirement of “new” refers to originally/novelty of the invention and “usefulness” to its commercial utility.

(Law applicable – Patent Act, 1970)

Copyrights:

To a layman copyright means exclusive right given by law for a certain period to the author or composer of work, conferring up him the exclusive right to produce copies of the work. The copyright system is the means of protection of the legal right of the owner of property in an “original work” to prevent anyone else from reproducing the work in anyway. Protection has been given to original literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, cinematograph films & sound recording.

(Law applicable – Copyright Act, 1957)

Trademarks:

A trademarks refers to a mark or symbol used by a trader in association with specific goods manufactured or sold. The mark is a symbol of a reputation of some kind of goods, either in terms of their origin or quality or both. When a person sells his goods under a particular trade mark he acquires a kind of limited exclusive right to use the mark in relation to those goods. You might have read the news about Google's Alphabet infringing on a BMW trademark

(Law applicable – Trade and Merchandise Act, 1958)

Designs:

A design relates to the elements of a manufactured article which give the article a particular visual appearance, such as its contours or shape, the appearance or shape of a product design. Design would mean only the features of – shape – configuration – pattern – ornament

(Law applicable – Indian Design Act, 2000)

Trade Secrets:

A trade secret is a piece of confidential information vital to the interest of the business person/entrepreneur in maintaining an edge in the business world. The information is treated as “property” and its transmission restrained on the ground that no person can transfer a property to which he or she does not have title

(Law applicable – There is no specific legislation in India to protect trade secrets; however, Indian courts have upheld trade secret protection on basis of principles of equity & English laws)