Concept of Intellectual Property Protection

Introduction 

Authors, designers, developers, and inventors can use patents or copyright to safeguard the concepts they have created. The goal is to stop others from unfairly benefitting from their innovations or works of art. Additionally, it provides them with a chance to recoup the money they spent on product development.

Intellectual Property Protection is the most critical factor that is prioritized when launching a new business or corporation. Everyone, whether they work for internet firms or other businesses, is careful to protect their Intellectual Property. Hence, Intellectual Property Protection is the first thing to do.

Definition of Intellectual Property

The term “Intellectual Property” describes works of art and design, literary works, music, names, symbols, and pictures utilized in commerce that were produced by the human mind. The four types of Intellectual Property ownership are copyright, trademark, trade secret, and patent. Exclusive rights that protect the owner from unlawful use of their creative works come with ownership of such property.

Types of Intellectual Property

Some Types of Intellectual Property

• Copyright

Works of literature, scholarship, science, and art are protected by copyright. Books, movies, artwork, music, games, photos, and software are a few examples. The Copyright Act governs copyright. No registration or application is necessary since copyright already exists. A person’s copyright in a sketch they do at their workstation at home is immediately theirs.

• Trademark

Businesses can use trademarks to set themselves apart from competing goods and services. The names of goods or services are safeguarded by trademark rights. They also safeguard a product’s package design and logo. If business owners wish to protect their trademark, they must register it.

• Patents

A technological product, technique, or innovation is protected by a patent. The patented product or method cannot be manufactured, used, sold again, rented out, or supplied by anyone else. However, the patent holder may authorize others to do so by issuing a patent license.

• Geographical Indications

According to the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999, a “geographical indication” is “an indication that designates such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods, or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation, or another characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.”

The indicator may be seen on a range of items, including Basmati rice, Darjeeling tea, Feni, Alphonso Mago, Allepey green cardamom, Coorg cardamom, Kanchipuram silk saris, Kolhapur Chappal, and a host of other goods, demonstrating the extensive usage of GIs in India.

• Trade Secrets

Intellectual Property rights on hidden knowledge or data that may be licensed or sold are known as trade secrets. When others access, use, or divulge such secret knowledge without authority in a manner that is at odds with ethical business standards, it is regarded as unfair action and a violation of trade secret protection.

• Industrial Design

India now has access to the components that aid in industrial design protection thanks to the TRIPS agreement. By protecting innovative and aesthetically pleasing designs that have the potential for commercial use and are in line with technological and economic improvements, the Designs Act of 2000 satisfies these needs.

• Plant Varieties

India adopted the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Act, 2001 (also known as the “Plant Act”) in accordance with the suggestions of the International Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants, Geneva, as part of the ratification of the TRIPS agreement. A Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority has been made possible by the Act. The organization is tasked with encouraging the creation of new plant varieties as well as protecting existing plant varieties and the interests of farmers and breeders.

Protection of Intellectual Property

There are several things you can do to generally make it more difficult to copy your goods, ideas, and innovations and for Intellectual Property Protection –

• Consider your product’s design and how simple it would be for someone to copy it without viewing your original drawings.
• Have strong IP-related language in employment contracts when you engage workers. 
• Make sure to train your staff on Intellectual Property Protection and rights.
• Use reliable physical protection and destruction techniques for documents, drawings, tooling, samples, machinery, etc.
• Check production overruns to ensure that genuine product isn’t being sold under a different name.
• Get Domain Names That Exactly Match. One of the finest Intellectual Property Protection methods for trademarks and copyrights, if at all feasible, is an exact-match domain name (that you already own). Despite the occasional cost, the long-term benefits are unparalleled.
• Consider What Someone Would Do to Infringe on Your IP Rights. This will undoubtedly prompt you to think about contact list security, paper shredding in recycle bins, creating an internal council to review the R&D scientists’ publications, and other such business-friendly measures.
• Create robust Non-Disclosure Agreements. It is also a great choice to enlist the aid of a legal representative when creating the non-disclosure legal clauses, which must be precise and explicit. Always make sure that any additional contracts your business uses to safeguard its Intellectual Property do so. Contracts for jobs, licensing, and distribution are a few examples.
  

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Conclusion

Intellectual Property Protection is necessary for any inventor, innovator, etc., for their new ideas and inventions. When intellectual property rights are used wisely, the advantages and worth of invention may be maximized. To know more about the Protection of Intellectual Property, contact a Lawyer here.