Intellectual property (IP) is a number of various types of legal monopolies over creations of the idea, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners have exclusive rights to several intangible assets such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries, and inventions; and words. phrases, symbols, and designs. Intellectual property has been divided into four main categories namely trademarks, patents, trade secrets and copyrights.
Copyrights provide legal rights to published and unpublished original works. They provide legal protection for original creative works like novels, movies, music, and so on. It gives legal rights to the creator to use the expression of his or her idea in addition to reproducing, giving away, exhibiting or even selling it with absolute discretion within the time decided by law. The creator has a claim over his creation for more than 50 years, which is valid even after his demise and any infringement of the creation within this time is actionable.
Patents are lawful and registered rights that allow creators to stop others from producing or marketing their invention. They are usually applicable to cases such as significant biological discoveries, new theories in science and technological breakthroughs. The protection cover provided by a patent in most countries is for a period of two decades, after which the invention ceases to be the sole property of the patent owner.
Trade secrets are certain confidential pieces of information that help a company to score over its rivals in the market. A trade secret could be anything ranging from a client database with the contact information of most treasured clients to a unique recipe or even a confidential report. In most cases, trade secrets are matters relating to in house management of the firm, which do not call for any kind of government intervention. Two methods used most often to protect a trade secret are storing it in a bank vault or keeping it confined to a restricted number of officials, so that it is not within reach of several people and hence remains secure.
Trademarks, on the other hand, are words, designs or logos that are associated with the firm on the whole or its products, which act as identifiers of its brand. Trademarks act as an immediate recall of the company in the consumer's mind and give rise to a particular brand identity. Mostly trademarks hold good for 10 years after which a renewal is often required.
Copyrights provide legal rights to published and unpublished original works. They provide legal protection for original creative works like novels, movies, music, and so on. It gives legal rights to the creator to use the expression of his or her idea in addition to reproducing, giving away, exhibiting or even selling it with absolute discretion within the time decided by law. The creator has a claim over his creation for more than 50 years, which is valid even after his demise and any infringement of the creation within this time is actionable.
Patents are lawful and registered rights that allow creators to stop others from producing or marketing their invention. They are usually applicable to cases such as significant biological discoveries, new theories in science and technological breakthroughs. The protection cover provided by a patent in most countries is for a period of two decades, after which the invention ceases to be the sole property of the patent owner.
Trade secrets are certain confidential pieces of information that help a company to score over its rivals in the market. A trade secret could be anything ranging from a client database with the contact information of most treasured clients to a unique recipe or even a confidential report. In most cases, trade secrets are matters relating to in house management of the firm, which do not call for any kind of government intervention. Two methods used most often to protect a trade secret are storing it in a bank vault or keeping it confined to a restricted number of officials, so that it is not within reach of several people and hence remains secure.
Trademarks, on the other hand, are words, designs or logos that are associated with the firm on the whole or its products, which act as identifiers of its brand. Trademarks act as an immediate recall of the company in the consumer's mind and give rise to a particular brand identity. Mostly trademarks hold good for 10 years after which a renewal is often required.
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