Saturday, January 16, 2010

Different 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 kind that can be protected by law. There are other kinds of property too which are provided for by law and protected within the legal provisions and these are termed intellectual property, which can be secured against exploitation by others. The three main kinds of intellectual property rights are copyrights, trademarks and patents.

Copyright is an intellectual property safeguard that is given by law to an author or any other type of creator for a unique composition or creation. This right may be awarded for music, films, paintings and other forms of creative expressions and not only the written or printed material. The copyright bestows the sole right of ownership over the work in question besides rights to get monetary benefits arising from the work.

On the other hand, trademarks give the person who has registered it, the protection over certain symbols, text or marks which identify the creator or origin of products to thwart replication and misuse. With this legal shield, trademark is protected from replication by unscrupulous persons who want to misuse established brands.

The last intellectual property right is a patent, which is bestowed upon inventors to safeguard their unique and useful creations and inventions. A patent is valid for a predefined period and allows the holder sole right to use and sell his or her invention.

There are a few other less frequently found types of intellectual properties that can be held by people. Some examples of other types are traditional knowledge possessed by natives of a particular area that is unique only to that area; confidential information that include business secrets, for instance, KFC's recipe; and geographical indicators that are a variation of trademarks used for merchandise originating from a specific part of the world, for example Champagne.

These three kinds of intellectual property are quite distinct from each other for the most part but also have certain commonalities. All of these are protected within the legal framework and the rightful owners can take refuge in a court of law and claim reparation in case of any violation.

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