Saturday, December 19, 2009

Types Of Intellectual Property

By Mary Diaz

Property does not only comprise of tangible things like houses, cars, furniture, money, investments etc and such property are not the only type that can be protected by law. Other kinds of property which are non- material in form also exist. They are called intellectual property and these are also secured by the law. Patents, trademarks and copyrights are the three primary categories of intellectual property.

When an author has created an original piece, he or she owns the copyright over this work and is granted ownership for them. This right may be given for music, films, videos and other types of creative expressions and not just the literary or printed material. It provides the owners with a number of rights including economic and moral rights in addition to the right of being known as the owner of the work.

In contrast, trademarks give the one who has registered it, the safety over certain symbols, text or marks which identify the creator or source of products to prevent replication and thus infringement. They protect the trademark owners from being economically exploited by counterfeiters.

The third kind of intellectual property right, known as patent, safeguards the rights of inventors in their innovative and beneficial invention. A patent is valid for a specified span and gives the holder exclusive right to use and commercially exploit his or her idea.

Some other, less often enforced intellectual property rights are also provided for by the law. To cite some instances of these rare intellectual properties, they can be some special knowledge passed on by a particular family only; company secrets like recipes behind popular products; and location based symbols or marks to denote a product arising from that location, like Champagne.

Though these forms of intellectual property are separate from each other there are certain similarities between the three. All of these are safeguarded within the legal framework and the rightful holders can take refuge in a court of law and claim compensation in case of any infringement.

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