Intellectual property are the legal rights (control and ownership) of creations, such as ideas; inventions; designs, etc. for the use in commerce (Bainbridge, 2012). Intellectual law in countries seeks to deter individuals or organizations from copying or capitalizing upon another’s work. The main areas protected by protect intellectual property law include: patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret. Intellectual Property can be categorized under the following:
Monopoly Right to prevent copying De Facto Monopoly Contractual
Patents Unregistered Trade Marks Trade Secrets Confidential Information
Registered Trade Marks Unregistered Designs Know-How Registered Design Copyright
This essay focuses on Patents,
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On the other hand, Patents could be expensive and there is no guarantee of a grant but most important is that the secrecy that comes with patents does not necessarily equate to a better product or a good business idea for the product. This is a decision the inventor must take into account.
There is also a need to have a design protection system. The fundamental idea being that design protection encourages novel design and prevents rapid growth of identical designs because producers are blocked from copying. Visual appeal is a key factor in influencing the decision of buyers. It makes sense even more when the products serve the same function, the design of a product could potentially sway consumers, and therefore aesthetics are important (WIPO, 2004).
The main idea being that everyone needs to come up with their own design. There are two kinds of design rights:
a. Unregistered Design Right: is one where you do not have to apply to protect the product. It covers only 3D items because it protects the shape and configuration of the item and the right lasts from 10 -15 years. An interesting clause with the unregistered design, is that the license can be granted to other parties in the last five years. It also leaves room for an agreement on costs can be reached with the other party and the original producer of the item.
b. Registered Design: must be applied for at some cost. It focuses on
This will ensure that no competitor can simply take her design and manufacture the product. This will also reduce the amount of direct competition due to the fact competitors cannot copy her product and market it to consumers.
While a trademark cannot be infringed upon at any time, if a trade secret is obtained through legal means it is no longer protected from use. With a patent, third parties are prevented from making, using or selling the invention thus protecting the funds used in the research and development (R & D)effort. This initial investment can be recovered and if the product is desirable, business success is realized for the property owner.
It is intended both to provide thumbnail descriptions of the various intellectual property regimes to economists working in this area and to indicate where additional economic research might be useful. The other papers in this symposium provide important examples of ongoing research on the economics of intellectual property. Suzanne Scotchmer analyzes the complex effects of patent protection when innovation is cumulative. Rather than analyzing situations in which several firms vie to develop the same innovation-the approach of the "patent race" literature-her analysis examines circumstances in which only one firm can develop an initial innovation but others can also build upon it. She focuses on how the incentive to develop both the initial and subsequent inventions may be affected by the scope of patent protection. Janusz Ordover considers ways of adjusting the patent system that may help to both provide returns to the inventor, and encourage the diffusion of the innovation in the economy. His paper is part of a line of work that explores the place of the intellectual property system among the large number of institutions that affect the amount and nature of research and development that takes place. In the final paper, David
Different forms of intellectual property protection have certain limitations on the time period they are in effect. The duration a patented design lasts is for 10 years. Fees are paid to make sure this protection remains. A registered design prevents third parties from utilizing the product for up to 25 years if it is renewed each five year period. Proof must be given that a person has created a design. These could be copies or photographic evidence of the design. The aspects of a design that are forbidden for use by others are the appearance, shape, arrangement and decoration. There are some criteria the design must meet in order for it to be protected. It must be new, not offensive, not contain already protected designs and is not
Intellectual property is a broad term that is used to refer to the rights that the owner of an invention or an artwork enjoys. An example of intellectual property law is the Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), which gives individual rights such as patent, designs, and trademark. Intellectual property is contained in the Article 2(viii) of the convention, which led the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Literary works, inventions, discoveries, trademarks, and industrial designs are among the rights that are provided in WIPO. Intellectual property in Australia has a strong judicial support.
In a Proprietary source, designers only have limited capabilities to alter or make any modifications from what the first designers had set in place, however, having full control gives them a chance to alter the look feel and even elements of the product giving it significantly more conceivable outcomes. In the Case with Apple and the FBI, Apple was taken to court over a locked phone. The FBI tried to force Apple to develop a program that would go against their security protocols to unlock the phone of a terrorist. Apple refused to do so stating that it would open a backdoor and allow for anyone to breach the security of their phones (Cava, Johnson & Swartz, 2016).
The expression of the idea or the work of art created from said idea is eligible for copyright. Users do not need to file for copyright to be protected but is advisable to do so. French copyright law goes on to explain that any works that did not include any human interaction cannot be copyrights, a rock or a flower cannot be copyrighted. Also functional items or items that could be patented, if the criteria for the patent are met, are not copyrightable ("Copyright in France,"
As per your request, the following captures my suggestions aimed at addressing the outlined issues (1) Trade Dress under the Lanham Act, (2) Copyright protection of the design (3) Design Patent under the Patent Act.
Alice Rawsthorn starts her Ted lecture with a statement that design has different meaning at different times. However, the all Inspiring designs have something common: they were created by dreamers: people who have big dreams and rebels the conventions. As a proof to her statement, Rawsthorn brings examples from the human history. The first example is about Ying Zheng who designed the all fighting tools in identical way. This case emphasizes the importance of design tools as a response to unique needs as war: defense/attack. Moreover, he gave solution of necessity of maintain product consistency in order to keep the maintenance and
Before college, when I heard about lawyers I only ever thought of one thing, the bar exam, and how awful it must be to prepare and take such a test. Now, moving steadily through the senior year of my undergraduate degree, my aspirations are quite different than what they were before college. With my changing goals, being a lawyer is now a profession that I wish to be a part of in the not too distant future. Specifically, I am aspiring to work in Intellectual Property Law. This form of law deals with protecting tangible and intangible creations of clients. These tangible and intangible creations range from inventions to symbols and often require being an expert in specific fields, such as industries, the arts, or science (Wilson, 2016).
Intellectual property is an asset to an individual or a business. Even though intellectual property is intangible, it is very important to protect it. Protection of intellectual property can be one of the most important business decisions one can make.
Intellectual property represents ideas created by minds of humans that require certain rights for their use. Intellectual property gives companies a competitive advantage and attracts the attention of other business partners and investors (Lee, 2016). With such importance, it is necessary for the law to protect these ideas from being used by unauthorized individuals. To shield from this, trade secrets, patents, and copyrights are used to protect the ownership of intellectual property (Legal Information Institute).
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. An invention in general must fulfill certain criteria in order to be protected by a patent. For example, the Patents Act, 1970 in S. 2(1) (j) defines invention as a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application. In other words, an invention in order to be patentable must show an element of novelty, must show “an inventive step”, and must be of practical use. Particularly, the Patents Act, 1970 defines “inventive step” as a feature of an invention that involves technical advance as compared to the existing knowledge or having economic significance or both and that makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art. In other words, patent rights are not available for new advances that are merely obvious extensions or modifications of prior designs. Besides, the requirement of difference over prior art, there is a requirement to establish the extent of common general knowledge that exists while
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it.
Intellectual property is critical to many companies in order to foster innovation and boosting their revenues. Many industries rely on the protection of patents, trademarks and copyrights as they are valuable assets for companies’ success. By protecting intellectual properties, it ensures that the original owner reaps full benefits from his/her ideas, features, products and creations.