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FORMS OF INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY

PATENTS

COPYRIGHT

TRADE MARKS

DESIGN RIGHTS

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are rights governed by statute that provide individuals with a right

to prevent others from exploiting or abusing their intellectual creations.

SECRET KNOW-HOW

Value in know-how relies on it being maintained as a trade secret and there is always a possibility

that it might leak into the public domain through carelessness, or even be copied unlawfully by

someone who has access to it.

Design right protection is an additional form of IP protection to patents, copyright and trade marks,

and is worthy of consideration for innovations whose value is based largely on external design

features.

A trade mark is the symbol by which the goods of a particular manufacturer or trader can be

identified and distinguished from the goods of others.

The brand or trade mark, in which a business wants to create value and become identified by in

the market, can be a word, a signature, a monogram, a picture or symbol, a logo or a combination of

these.

Copyright is a form of IP designed to protect the rights of a creator of literary and artistic works,

computer programs and databases.

Copyright allows the creators to control the use and exploitation of their works, and derivative

works thereof, and covers the copying, adapting, publishing, performing and broadcasting of such

works.

The title granted provides the owner with a monopoly on exploitation (making, using, selling,

offering for sale, importing) of the invention and enables the owner to exclude others from any of

these activities.

The two treaties they should be aware of with respect to patent

protection and whose patent systems they will avail of most frequently are:

the Patent Cooperation

Treaty (PCT) and the European Patent Convention (EPC)