Intellectual Property
What is it?
The World Intellectual Property
Organization defines intellectual property
as “creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works,
and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.”
Intellectual property is divided into two classes
- Industrial Property
- Patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic
indications of source protect inventions, symbols, designs, and indications
of origin.
- Patents provide protection for inventions for a limited period of time.
- Trademarks are distinctive signs which identify goods or services. The
owner of the trademark has the exclusive right to use or assign that sign
or symbol.
- An industrial design is protected if it is appealing, thus increasing
the commercial value of the item. Protection assures there will not be
unauthorized copying or imitation of that design.
- Geographic indications of source indicate where an item was produced,
and imply a degree of quality associated with a particular country or region.
This is often, but not solely, used for agricultural products.
More about industrial property…
- World Intellectual Property Organization
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Literary/Artistic Property
- Copyright is the legal term describing the rights
given to creators for their literary and artistic works.
What does copyright protect?
- literary works such as novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspapers
- films, musical compositions and recordings, choreography
- artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture
- architectural designs
- advertisements, maps, technical drawings
- computer programs, text and images on WWW pages, digital images, recordings,
databases, games
More about intellectual property and copyright…
