Author- Mansi Choudhary
INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property (IP) refers to any original creation of the human intellect, such as an artistic, literary, technical or scientific creation. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) refer to the legal rights granted to an inventor or creator to protect his invention or creation for a specified period of time. These legal rights grant the inventor/creator or his assignee the exclusive right to fully exploit his invention/creation for a given period of time. It is well known that intellectual property plays a vital role in the modern economy. It has also been convincingly established that due importance should be given to the intellectual work associated with innovation so that the public good can result from it. There has been a quantum leap in research and development (R&D) spending and a corresponding leap in the investment required to bring new technology to market. The stakes for technology developers have become very high, and therefore the need to protect knowledge from illegal use has become expedient, at least for a period that would ensure a return on R&D and other related costs and reasonable profits for continued investment in R&D. Intellectual property rights are a powerful tool to protect the investment, time, money and effort made by the inventor/creator of intellectual property because they grant the inventor/creator the exclusive right to use their invention/creation for a certain period of time. Thus, in this way, IPR helps the economic development of the country by promoting healthy competition and promoting industrial development and economic growth.
BRIEF HISTORY
The laws and administrative procedures relating to Intellectual Property Rights have European roots. The tendency to grant patents began in 14th century. England was technologically advanced compared to other European countries, and they used this feature to attract craftsmen from abroad on special terms. The first known patent was appeared in Italy. Venice can be considered the cradle of the IP system as most of the legal thinking took place here. For the first time in the world, laws and institutions were created here; afterwards other countries followed the process. Indian patent law has its 150+ year old history. The first was the Act of 1856, which is based on the British patent system and provides a 14-year patent term, followed by numerous laws and amendments.
IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
The purpose of intellectual property rights is to encourage new creations such as technology, works of art and inventions that have the potential to drive economic growth. Intellectual property rights increase the incentive for individuals to continue to produce more job opportunities and new technologies, while allowing our world to improve and evolve faster.
- Intellectual Property Creates and Supports High-Paying Jobs: IP-intensive industries employ more than 45 million Americans and hundreds of millions of people worldwide and the average IP industry worker earns about 46% more than a non-IP industry worker.
- Intellectual Property Drives Economic Growth and Competitiveness: Intellectual property rights encourage more and more people to invent or create more; therefore, increasing the competitiveness and economic growth.
TYPES OF IPRs
- PATENT:
Patents are used to prevent inventions from being made, sold, or used by others without permission. Patents are the most common type of intellectual property rights that come to mind when people think of intellectual property protection. Patent owners have all rights to commercialize their patent, including selling the patents or licensing the inventions to third parties on mutually agreed terms.
- TRADEMARK:
Trademarks are another well-known method of protecting intellectual property rights. A trademark is a distinctive mark that allows consumers to easily identify the specific goods or services offered by a business. Some examples are McDonalds, Golden Arches, Facebook logo, etc. Trademarks can take the form of text, phrases, symbols, sounds, smells, or color schemes. Unlike patents, trademarks can protect not just one product or process, but a range or class of products or services.
- COPYRIGHT
Copyright does not protect ideas. Instead, it only includes “tangible” creations and original works such as art, music, architectural drawings, and even software code. Copyright owners have the exclusive right to sell, publish, and/or reproduce any literary, musical, theatrical, artistic, or architectural work created by the author. - TRADE SECRET
Trade Secret includes the secrets relating to a business. They are proprietary system, official, strategy or other confidential information and are not intended for unauthorized commercial use by others. This is an important form of protection that helps businesses gain a competitive advantage.
GOVERNING REGULATIONS FOR IPRs
- Trade Marks Act, 1999
- The Patents Act, 1970 (amended in 2005)
- The Copyright Act, 1957
- The Designs Act, 2000
- The Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
- The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001
- The Information Technology Act, 2000
CONCLUSION
It is clear that intellectual property and intellectual property rights management is a multi-faceted task, requiring different actions and strategies in line with national laws, international treaties and practices. It is no longer driven solely by the national perspective. Intellectual property and related rights are greatly influenced by market needs, market reaction, and the cost of converting intellectual property into a commercial enterprise. In other words, trade and commercial considerations are important when managing intellectual property rights. Different forms of intellectual property rights require different handling, management, planning, strategy, and involvement of people with different expertise, such as scientific, technical, medical, legal, financial, marketing and business. Each industry should develop its own IP policy, management style, strategy, etc. based on its specialization.
