Types Of Intellectual Properties

Intellectual property refers to the creations of the human mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. There are following categories of Intellectual properties:

1. Copyright

Copyright is a right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. Copyright includes literary and artistic works such as books, novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. A Copyright gives the Copyright owner the sole right to produce or reproduce the work or any substantial part thereof in any material form whatsoever.

2. Trademark

Trademark means a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others in the market and may include the shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colours. The purpose behind trademarks is to allow people to indicate the source of the goods or services and to distinguish them from those of others in the industry. Trademark registration can be obtained for a business name, distinctive catch phrases, taglines, captions and logos whatever helps your business or product standout from those of others in the market.

3. Patent

A patent is an exclusive right granted to the owner of an invention to make, use, manufacture and market the invention. Not all inventions are patentable. The patent must be in respect of an invention and merely not a discovery. The patent is granted only for an invention which must be new and useful. Hence, the invention must have novelty and utility. It must be the inventor’s own discovery and not merely verification of what was already known before the date of the patent. It is important to bear in mind that in order to be patentable an improvement on something known before or a combination of different matters already known. The invention is capable of being made or used in an industry.

4. Industrial Designs 

Design as per Section 2(d) of the Designs Act, 2000 means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament or composition of lines or colour or combination thereof applied to any article whether two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, but does not include any mode or principle or construction or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device, and does not include any trade mark, as define in clause (v) of sub-section of Section 2 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, property mark or artistic works as defined under Section 2(c) of the Copyright Act, 1957. A design is capable of being registered only if it is new or original.

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