Intellectual Property rights provide
legal rights over creations of the mind, including both artistic and
commercial creations. Intellectual property law provides owners with
certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, as well
the financial incentive of monopoly profits. The common types of
intellectual property are copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial
design rights and trade secrets.
Copyright laws protect artistic
creations such as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and
software. These rights usually last for 50 to 100 hundred years,
after which point your work is said to enter the public domain.
A trademark is a sign that is used to
identify a product or service originating from a unique source, and
to distinguish that product or service from other entities. A
trademark is typically given to a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol,
design, image or combination of the above.
A patent is set of exclusive rights
that are provided by a state to an inventor in exchange for the
disclosure of an invention. The patent provides the inventor the
right to exclude others from making, using, or selling that
invention. The right is for a limited time and usually lasts for 20
years after the filing date.
Industrial design rights are a set of
intellectual property rights that protect the visual design of
objects. The creation of shape, configuration, or composition of
pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color, containing
aesthetic value constitutes an industrial design. The rights last for
fourteen years.
A trade secret is a formula, practice,
process, design, instrument, pattern or compilation of information
which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable.
Additionally, a business should be able to obtain an economic
advantage over competitors or customers by keeping this information
private.
Intellectual Property rights have
significant benefits for those who choose to take advantage of them.
These rights promote continued creation of valuable ideas and
inventions by providing incentive to those who can be the first to
come up with a great idea and get that idea protected. If you have a
great idea of your own that you would like to get protected, you can
visit www.ideanav.co.za to get more
information on the steps you need to take to get protection via the
rights of intellectual property law.
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