INTRODUCTION

Intellectual property rights have advanced to the point that they now play a significant role in the growth of the global economy over the last two decades. In the 1990s, numerous countries independently strengthened their laws and regulations in this field. At the global level, IPRs have been strengthened to the point of serious international commitment as a result of the World Trade Organization’s successful conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are the legal rights that are conferred as an exclusive right, to the creator or the inventor in order to, protect his invention or creation for a period of time. Originally, only patent, copyrights and trademarks of industrial design were protected under the IPR but, now it has a much wider meaning. IPR enhances technological advancement as it’s a mechanism of handling piracy, unauthorized use and infringement[1].

It protects trade secrets and undisclosed knowledge, which are critical components of enterprises and research and development agencies. Intellectual Property Rights are non-fundamental human rights that are subject to governmental interference in order to comply with human rights duties. The IPR has evolved to encompass all statutorily recognised rights. The globalisation of Intellectual Property Rights has sparked discussion over the proper assessment of their link to Human Rights.

Intellectual property rights are critical for the advancement and stimulation of research and development. This is to defend the rights of individuals and organisations, to safeguard their unique ideas and research, and to enable them to realise the rewards of their labour, which is critical for the growth and development of humanity through individual efforts.

Types of Intellectual Property

1.      Patents – A patent is a government-issued document that is generally used to protect the rights to new inventions, ideas, or scientific methods. The government requires patent holders to pay periodic renewal costs. As a result, the approved Patent is only valid for a limited period of time.

2.      Copyright – It encompasses all literary and artistic works, whether they be novels, plays, or poetry, as well as films, music, architectural designs, or photography. It is concerned with the intellectual creators’ rights and also includes the rights of the creator/inventor, performers, producers, and broadcasters.

3.      Trademarks – They explicitly safeguard the colours, sounds, drawings, words, or symbols created by a person. It identifies the commercial origin and source of the trademark owner. It empowers the licensor with the authority to manage permission, marketing, financial arrangements, and product quality. They may be issued in conjunction with or in lieu of patent and know-how licences.

4.      Trade Secrets – This includes an organization’s systems, methods, formulas, strategies, and any other type of secret information. This is primarily to offer these organisations with a competitive edge in the market, as they are critical to the company’s success.

ORIGIN

The coming up of World Trade Organisation as a result of increase in the volume of international trade and globalisation. This in turn resulted in the need for State to adopt changes as per changing need of international trade and framework of trade therefore called for harmonisation of numerous parts of Indian Law relating to Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS agreement defined baseline requirements for protection for IPR rights and also specified a time frame within which countries were obligated to make adjustments in their legislation to meet with the requisite degree of protection. In view of this, India has taken measures to alter and amend the different IP Acts in the recent several years.

1. PATENT ACT, 1970

India after signing the TRIPS agreement and forming part of the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the purpose of reduction of distortions and impairments to international trade and promotion of effective protection of intellectual property rights, became signatory, the Patent act as amended time to time in the year 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2005 to meet its obligations under the TRIPS agreement. Further, it has been amended to support the numerous technical changes in India, to correspond with the development of the International intellectual property laws, India has also made amendments in the Intellectual property rights. The modifications also attempted to modernise, harmonise, and simplify the Act in order to preserve national and public interests while also complying with India’s international commitments under the TRIPS Agreement. Further, it has been amended to support the numerous technical changes in India, to correspond with the development of the International intellectual property laws, India has also made amendments in the Intellectual property rights.

Subsequently, the Patent Act’s rules were revised, and they became effective in May 2003. These rules were revised further on 01.01.2005 by the Patents (Amendment) Rules 2005. As a result, the Patent Amendment Act, 2005 is now fully effective.

• TRADEMARK ACT, 1999

The Trademarks Act of 1999 also improved trademark law. A trademark is a distinctive symbol used to differentiate one seller’s goods from another. The Trade and Merchandise Mark Act, 1958, has protected trademarks in India for over four decades. India joined the WTO at its founding. One of the agreements linked to IP rights (TRIPS). India ratified the Paris Convention in December 1998.

Also, the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, was extensively amended in the 1994 Trade Mark bill. To enhance international trade and investment, and most crucially, to make trademark management system as simple as feasible and more recognised in court system, the said adjustment can be called modernization.

A new review of required development in several areas such as trade and commercial practises, globalisation, etc. was introduced in the Trademarks Bill of 1999 which was later passed in Parliament and replaced with Trade and Merchandise Act, 1958 with assent of the President on.

The Act’s key features are as follows:

• This Act expands the definition of infringement to include unlawful use of comparable or confusingly similar marks if the goods and services are very similar and create confusion or chance of confusion.
• Even if a well-known brand in India is used unauthorisedly and the owner’s interests are infringed, infringement action might be brought.
• It also empowered authorities to take infringing content without a warrant.
• THE DESIGNS ACT, 2000

To better preserve this field and industrial designs, a more dependable judicial system was needed at the beginning of the 20th century. The efforts have to be made to encourage design industry development by offering registered design protection. It was crucial to protect the design just to the extent necessary and to allow unrestricted use of available design. The current Act is compliant with the TRIPS agreement and hence with globalisation.

The industrial product consists of two parts: artistic effort and product functionality. It is not regulated by Design Act but the artistic work should be distinctive and not common. For example, a table with matching legs and top is not a design, but a table with a unique top and bottom can be.

With unique designs, industrial design is becoming a daily part of the consumer’s life. For the same reason, industrial designs must be protected.

• COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957

The Copyright Act of 1957 is one of the first surviving statutes governing intellectual property rights. It has been revised numerous times to reflect changes in global trade and commerce. The legislation is concerned with individual creativity; it safeguards the rights of literary, artistic, musical, and sound records, as well as cinematograph films. For example, it grants the author copyright protection during his lifetime and for 60 years after his death. It is not necessary for the work to be qualitative in order to be qualified for registration under this act; any original work that bears little resemblance to any other work may be regarded eligible for this purpose.

The author obtains not only the right to authorship, but also the right to prevent his work from being modified without his previous authorization. If the author brings any amendments made without his will into court, he can obtain an order recouping any losses and ordering the act to cease immediately.

Copyright plays a critical role in the digital industry; computer programming was included to the Act in 1984 as literary work in order to recognise and protect computer programming. Though a separate definition for the term was added subsequently in 1994.

The establishment of the Computer programming caused a great deal of confusion for the inbuilt programmes that a computer cannot work without, and which could not be freely transacted with the computer. Later in 1999, with an amendment, it became permissible to allow for the free sale of computers and other similar equipment with pre-installed programmes. Additionally, it facilitated the rise of the newly established internet.

• TRADE SECRET

Trade Secrets are classified as confidential business information that gives a business an advantage over competitors. Such information may be proprietary in nature or commercially sensitive.

A trade secret may be preserved in perpetuity, but a sufficient degree of secrecy must exist to make obtaining the information difficult, except through the use of unlawful means. Given the abundance of traditional knowledge in the country, protection under this act will be critical for reaping the benefits of this sort of information.

CONCLUSION

Clearly, managing Intellectual Property and associated rights is a multidimensional activity. As a result, they necessitate the development of new strategies and action plans that are consistent with national and international norms and treaties. Because it is no longer limited to the national level but has expanded to include international organisations. These Intellectual Property Rights entitle and protect their holders to monopolistic rights and temporary privileges. The many types of Intellectual Property Rights require distinct management, planning, treatment, and strategies on the part of the personnel concerned, who each possess a unique realm of knowledge. Therefore, the various updates and amendments to prior Intellectual Property Laws reflect India’s transition to a new IPR system in order to prepare for global trade competition.

[1] https://legaldesire.com/human-rights-and-intellectual-property-rights/

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