Jeremy Bentham- “The law and property are born together, taken away the property there will be no laws.”
Property– Property in general term means a land or a thing. If we have a property of our own then we also have some legal rights over the property.
The infinite series of rights includes-
• Right to possess the thing which you own
• Right to enjoy the things owned.
• Right to consume, destroy or alienate the things
Intellectual property– It is said to be the new wealth of the nations. World Intellectual Property Organization defined property as “it is the legal rights which results from Intellectual activities in the Industrial and artistic fields.”
Nature of Intellectual property-
• Intangible- It is intangible because, we define Human intellect as Intellectual property and no one can touch human intellect or brain. The Intellectual property laws do not protect the physical object that went into creation but the Intellectual ability that gave rise to that physical object.
• Creation of statutes– It is a positive law. It is protected by specific legislation. The provisions of IP law is clearly defined in the statutes/acts/laws unlike the existence of real property.
• Bundle of legal rights– The owner has some bundle of legal rights over his Intellectual property against everyone else. All those Interests and rights are protected by the law.
Types of Intellectual property-
- Patents – Patent is a set of rights which are given to the inventor or maker of a product or invention granted by the concerned government for a specific period of time in return of the full market exposure of the Invention. It is a kind of license over the invention to the Inventor to restrict anyone else from making, using or selling such Invention.
- Copyrights – copyright protects the authenticity of an original creation. This concerned with materials, aesthetic materials, literacy, music, film, sound recording, broad casting, software and multimedia purposes. It prevents others from copying the original work, publishing or selling the copies of the original work to gain commercially, Renting or lending such work in a free market, doing or demonstrating the work in public. It requires no registration but there is a time limit.
- Trademarks – A trademark is an identification symbol which helps the buyer to distinguish the particular product from other similar good of another trader. It can be some wordings, logos, design, sounds. Ex- BMW, TATA. This is a territorial right and it requires registration but there is no limit.
- Trade secrets – Trade secrets mean information, which are confidential as a secret. These are not exposed to the market, only the owner has this information. It gives the owner an advantage over other competitors in the industry. It is a “do-it-yourself” kind of protection. These trade secrets may include some formulae, programmes, methods, progresses or data collection etc. If there is anyone who exposes the trade secret or use it illegally then such person is required to give compensation/damages for such illegal use.
- Importance of IPR – It is very necessary for industrial purposes. The inventor here has the exclusive right of dealing of the Invention and it is protected by the law of land. It permits avoiding of competitions and increase entry barriers of the industry. It also allows entry to a technical market. By issuing license for owned goods, the Income generation becomes steady. A registered intellectual property is an asset that can be leveraged through licensing and can therefore be highly valuable. It can massively enhance the value of the business when it’s sold. It also helps the economy in terms of GDP, employment, tax revenues and statistic importance.