What is meant by Intellectual Property?

Overview of Intellectual Property and the benefits of registering your IP.

World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) defines Intellectual Property as the creations of the mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

Related: 5 ways you benefit from your registered Intellectual Property.

The Greatest Inventions of Mankind has simply germinated as a tiny idea in someone’s head. From the invention of the wheel to the huge skyscrapers of today, the creations of the human mind are magical. It is protecting and preserving this intangible and immeasurable asset that defines Intellectual Property and its legal registration. Intellectual Property is any creation of the human mind which solely belongs to the individual who creates it. It could be a statue sculpted by a sculptor, a novel born out of the thought process of a writer, a logo created to represent the vision of a business, a brand name or any process that is unique and created by a specific business or person.

Intellectual Property is divided into 2 categories. They are,

1. Industrial Property:Industrial Property includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications.

2. Copyrights:Copyrights covers literary works, films, music, artistic works and architectural designs.

Intellectual Property is acclaimed worldwide and is promoted for various reasons like

  • The development of the human kind relies on its capacity to create and invent new products, technology and process.
  • The legal protection of Intellectual Property encourages and motivates more people to create and discover more innovations.
  • The promotion of Intellectual Property gives the due credibility to the creator and protects against fraudulence and regulates fair practice of business.
  • Intellectual Property acts a catalyst for social economic development of any country and brings forth new products or changes.

The history of Intellectual Property is quite interesting. All though mentions of copyrights, patents and other matters of intellectual property law are sparse in early history, its impact was very much prevalent even in the early centuries.

1. Ownership Rights: One interesting fact about intellectual property is the change in the Statute of Monopolies. This change also allowed author or inventor to retain their ownership rights. And the interesting part is that the law also guaranteed the 14 year period of patent retention.

2. Statute of Anne: In the year 1710 a significant legislation name Statute of Anne was passed as a complimentary to the previous act. This was mainly aimed at copyrights, and also granted the authors/ creators to recreate and as well as distribute their work. This brought a significant change in the intellectual property law pattern.

3. The Intellectual Property Law: After the United States broke itself from Great Britain, the thirteen colonies which had got separated had to create its own intellectual property operation system. This in turn created a lot of problems and that’s when Federal Law took over.

In the year 1883, Paris Convention took place, this created the international agreement- which lead to the creation of the protection of Intellectual Property, through which the inventors could protect their innovation even if it was used in other countries.

Businesses across the worldstarted to understand that Intellectual Property was beyond legality and business profits but improved the credibility of the business. Read more 5 ways you benefit from your registered Intellectual Prope

Related Post

Consult with a legal expert now!