Different Categories Of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) is a list of certain types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding areas of law. Under intellectual property law, proprietors have sole rights to several intangibles such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries, and inventions; and words. phrases, symbols, and designs. Trade secrets, copyrights, patents, and trademarks are four main kinds of intellectual property.

Copyrights deal with safety of original creative works. They are used to protect the ownership of works like poems, songs, stories, films etc. It gives legal rights to the creator to use the expression of his or her original work in addition to reproducing, giving away, showing or even selling it with complete freedom within the time decided by law. In most nations, a copyright continues even after the author’s demise for 50 years and any unauthorized usage is actionable.

Patents are lawful and registered rights that allow inventors to stop others from manufacturing or promoting their invention. Typically they are applicable to scientific theories, technological inventions and also biological discoveries. In most nations, patent cover is available for a restricted span of 20 years and the owner loses his exclusive rights over the invention after the expiry of this time span.

Trade secrets are undisclosed ideas and information that can be used by the company to defeat its competitors. Trade secrets can be anything ranging from software algorithms to the recipe of a food item and even information like contacts of most important clients. Typically, trade secrets are an internal matter and are zealously guarded by the company without any intervention from the government. The usual steps taken by a firm to protect trade secrets include keeping the information confined to a select handful of managers, or even keeping it under lock and key in some bank vault.

Trademarks are words, logos and graphics that identify a specific brand or company and differentiate it from the rival brands. Trademarks create an exclusive brand identity for a company and trigger instant recall in the minds of consumers. Generally, a registered trademark can get a renewal after a span of a decade.

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