Different Kinds Of Intellectual Property
The list of various types of legal monopolies over creations of idea, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law is called Intellectual property (IP). Under intellectual property law, proprietors are given certain sole rights to a sort of intangibles, like musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, breakthroughs, and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. There are four main types of intellectual property – copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.
Copyrights safeguard original works, either published or unpublished. They offer legal protection for original creative works like novels, movies, music, and so on. They permit the users to exclusively use many forms of their idea in different mediums with exclusive legal authority over replication, adaptation, sale etc for a prescribed span of time. In most nations, a copyright is valid even after the author’s death for 50 years and any unsolicited usage is considered illegal.
Patents are legal and registered rights that allow creators to prevent others from manufacturing or promoting their invention. Typically they are applicable to scientific theories, inventions in the field of technology and also biological discoveries. Most of the nations provide patent cover only for a span of 20 years, following which the invention passes into the public domain and the inventor loses his exclusive rights.
Trade secrets are those classified pieces of information that enable a company to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. A trade secret can be anything from a confidential report to a cooking recipe, or a database containing names and phone numbers of high profile clients. Typically, trade secrets are an internal matter and are strongly guarded by the firm without any intervention from the government. Two most commonly used ways of protecting a trade secret are keeping it in a bank locker or confining it to a restricted number of officials, so that it is not accessible to several people and thus remains secure.
Trademarks are words, logos and designs that identify a specific brand or firm and separate it from the rival brands. Trademarks create a unique brand identity for a company and trigger instant recall in the minds of customers. Usually, a registered trademark can be renewed after a period of 10 years.
Discover more about Trademark Registration Singapore and discover how does an Intellectual Property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.