General Information on Intellectual property and its rights :

What is Intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols that are protected by law. It is important to know how to use, guard and enforce the rights over the intellectual property that an individual or his business owns.  

How to Protect intellectual property

Intellectual Property in India is a term that refers to brand, invention, design, and any other kind of creation over which the person or the business is having legal rights. Almost all businesses own some form of intellectual property that can be considered as a business asset.
When something new and innovative is created, the inventor has the right to protect it. Inventors can register their creations as intellectual properties by filing for an IP that enables them to avail sole monopoly over their creations.
Traditionally, IP is categorized as industrial property and copyright, wherein the former is used in the context of patents, industrial designs, Geographical Indications and trademarks and the later is used in the context of protecting literary creations, artistic works, musical works etc.
As such, the right to protect IP entails the exclusive rights provided to the innovator or creator. IP rights denotes the legal rights provided to the creator and not the IP itself. It is necessary to understand the meaning of IP rights and be aware of the steps taken to protect them.
The Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in India mainly include encompassing trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and design, etc. Each category of intellectual property covers a different group of properties and work. It is necessary to choose the right category to safeguard the work and the business property.

IPRs in India

Intellectual property rights in India includes the following common types:

• Copyright - Grants the protection of written or published works such as books, songs, films, web content, and other artworks
• Patents - The patent rights protect an invention, new business product, or the process
• Industrial designs - An industrial design constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. A design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or of two-dimensional features, such as patterns, line, or colour
• Geographical indications - Geographical indications and appellations of origin are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication includes the name of the place of origin of the goods
• Trademarks - A trademark protects signs, symbols, logos, words, or sounds that distinguish between the products and services from the competitors
• Trade secrets - A trade secret is a company's process or practice that is not public information, which provides an economic benefit or advantage to the company or holder of the trade secret. Trade secrets must be actively protected by the company and are typically the result of research and development.

Benefits of IPR :

Intellectual property rights not only protect the ideas or concepts of business but also protect the genuine business assets that are vital to the products and services. Several advantages to secure intellectual property rights include:

• Enhances market value - Intellectual property rights can help you generate business through the licensing, sale and even commercialization of the products and services protected under IPRs. This will ultimately improve the market share and helps in raising profits. Having registered and protected intellectual property rights can also raise the business' value in case of sale, merger or acquisition.
• Turn ideas and thoughts into profit-making assets - Ideas have little value on their own but registering ideas under intellectual property rights can help you turn it into commercially successful products and services. Copyrighting or licensing the patents can lead to a steady stream of royalties and additional income.
• Market your products and services - Getting intellectual property rights can help your business' image. Intellectual property rights like trademark registration can help you separate your products and services from others.
• Access or raise Capital - Through sale, licensing, or by using IPRs as collateral for debt financing, an individual can monetize for debt financing. Intellectual property rights can be used as an advantage while applying for government funding like grants, subsidies, and loans.
• Enhances export opportunities – A business that has registered IPRs will be able to use brands and designs to market its products and services to other markets as well. A business can also tap into the franchising agreements with overseas companies or export patented products.