4 Important Types of Intellectual Property Rights

The process of inventing or discovering the innovative and rather unique product and the focus on launching it in the future can guarantee the success of a company or a person within the market. Nevertheless, there are a lot of associated challenges. Thus, the unique idea or design can be stolen or copied. Moreover, the inventor or creator does not receive the recognition and benefits, if the product and idea are not protected with references to the intellectual properties laws.

Intellectual property is one of the most controversial legal and ethical fields of management. It is the dynamic and developing area of the modern law which covers all the creations of the human mind. From this point, intellectual property can be defined as the specific concept which is used to speak about inventions, literary pieces, artistic and music works, designs, photographs, slogans, names, and symbols. The above-mentioned pieces and objects are protected in relation to the intellectual property laws such as copyright, trade mark, industrial design rights, and patent. According to these types of intellectual property laws, the inventor or creator receives the exclusive right to control the usage of his or her discovery, invention, symbol, or image.

Types of Intellectual Property Rights

The main types of intellectual property rights are distinguished according to the type of intellectual property which is protected with the help of the definite intellectual property law. It is possible to focus on copyright, trade mark, industrial design rights, and patent which guarantee the inventor, designer, or creator the protected control over the certain intellectual property.

1. Copyright

Literary pieces, artistic and music works, web pages, commercials, computer software, graphic works, architectural works, and any other products of the human mind and ideas expressed with the help of the definite physical medium become protected by copyright. Thus, copyright protects the original work of the author which is presented in the specific form, in the medium of expression. That is why, copyright cannot protect ideas which are not fixed in any medium of expression.

Copyright is not granted by the federal agency, the registration of the creative work is necessary only if infringement occurs. Copyright provides the automatic protection of the creative works when they are fixed and presented in any tangible form. The person who has the exclusive rights provided by copyright can copy, reproduce, distribute, change, and publicly perform the work.

The owner of the copyright in spite of the absence of necessity to provide the copyright notice on the work is the only person who can determine the ways of possible usage of the work. The owner of the copyright is also the only person who can receive some financial benefits from using the creative work. The owner can also claim copyright or transfer the rights to the other person providing the written agreement.

The fact that it is unnecessary to register the work or provide the copyright notice provokes a lot of challenges for copyright owners who need to focus on confirming their authorship in order to avoid the situation of stealing the idea fixed in the physical medium.

2. Trade Mark

Business owners pay much attention to the image of their companies, products, and services in order to contribute to the company’s recognition. To compete within the market, it is necessary to develop an effective logo, slogan, or symbol which can stimulate the brand recognition and help consumers identify the product or service among the other competitors within the industry.

Thus, a trade mark is a brand name which is used for the definite product or service and help consumers create certain associations with the company and the quality of products. Trade mark is necessary to protect the brand name from using it for the other products within the industry.

Trade mark laws work for benefits of trade mark owners and consumers because they protect the interests of both the parties. Having chosen the effective trade mark, business owners expect that the trade mark can promote the company and product’s reputation and can contribute to the customers’ loyalty. Thus, trade marks are developed to work for the company’s benefits, but not all the trade marks can have the same impact on the improvement of the company’s reputation.

To discuss a trade mark as protectable, it is important to compare trade marks within the market and avoid any similarities. The search should be realized in the field of logos, symbols, and names in order to avoid any confusing associations. However, strong trade marks can guarantee the effective protection for business owners according to the trade mark laws.

Customers are also inclined to rely on trade marks because developed and promoted trade marks are associated with the definite company and its reputation within the industry. From this point, choosing the certain product, a consumer expects for definite quality with references to the protected reputation and goodwill.

3. Industrial Design Rights

Industrial design rights are often associated with copyright because of similarities in functioning and protection provided. According to the industrial design right, the designer can protect such types of the intellectual property as the design of the definite project, its form, and color. The visual design of objects can be protected if it is fixed in the form of two-dimensional or three-dimensional pattern. These rights protect the aesthetic features of the product or object.

It is important to protect the visual characteristics of the developed and designed product. The designer often needs to protect the specific shape, form, color, combination of colors and lines in the object in order to avoid copying them by the other persons.

Visual patterns protected according to the industrial design laws are used to create industrial objects of the innovative form and with unique visual characteristics. Nevertheless, to protect the definite visual pattern, it is necessary to publish it in an official bulletin. In this case, the industrial design rights can be realized completely.

4. Patents

Inventing new products, developing new methods, and working out improvements for the existing technologies and processes, a person or a group of persons should protect their property rights with the help of a patent. It is important to note that patents provide the inventor with the right to stop the process of manufacturing a new product, using a new method, process, or improvement. Patents cannot provide the inventor or creator with the right to practice the new technology or improvement without the necessary license.

From this perspective, patents provide the inventor with the right to exclude others from using the innovation during a definite period of time and protect the utility of the product. Patents are used to protect specific features of the product or technology which adds to its usefulness. Furthermore, patents can stimulate innovations protecting the intellectual property rights of the inventor.

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