The list of various types of legal monopolies over creations of mind, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law is called Intellectual property (IP). Under intellectual property law, proprietors have exclusive rights to several intangible assets like musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries, and inventions; and words. phrases, symbols, and designs. Copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets are four main types of intellectual property.
Copyrights protect original creations, either published or unpublished. They offer legal safeguards for original works of creativity like novels, films, music, and so on. They permit the owners to exclusively use many forms of their creation in different mediums with exclusive legal rights of replication, adaptation, sale etc for a certain period of time. In most nations, a copyright lasts for fifty years even after the author's death and any unlawful use within this time span is considered an offence.
Patents are registered rights that safeguard the original work of the inventors by preventing other people from producing or marketing their invention. They offer protection not only for technological breakthroughs and scientific theories but also for discoveries such as biological ones. In most countries, patent cover is available for a restricted span of 20 years and the inventor loses his sole ownership over the invention following the end of this time span.
Trade secrets are certain confidential pieces of information that help a company to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. Trade secrets can include anything ranging from a new software to the recipe of a food item and even information like contacts of most important customers. In most cases, trade secrets are issues pertaining to internal management of the company, which do not involve any kind of government intervention. The most common means of securing trade secrets is by allowing access to only a few important executives and not everyone, or by keeping it safe in a bank along with other valuables and papers.
Trademarks, on the other hand, include words, designs or logos that are associated with the company on the whole or its products, which act as identifiers of its brand. Trademarks act as a quick recall of the company in the customer's mind and create a particular brand identity. Mostly trademarks hold good for 10 years after which a renewal is often required.
Copyrights protect original creations, either published or unpublished. They offer legal safeguards for original works of creativity like novels, films, music, and so on. They permit the owners to exclusively use many forms of their creation in different mediums with exclusive legal rights of replication, adaptation, sale etc for a certain period of time. In most nations, a copyright lasts for fifty years even after the author's death and any unlawful use within this time span is considered an offence.
Patents are registered rights that safeguard the original work of the inventors by preventing other people from producing or marketing their invention. They offer protection not only for technological breakthroughs and scientific theories but also for discoveries such as biological ones. In most countries, patent cover is available for a restricted span of 20 years and the inventor loses his sole ownership over the invention following the end of this time span.
Trade secrets are certain confidential pieces of information that help a company to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. Trade secrets can include anything ranging from a new software to the recipe of a food item and even information like contacts of most important customers. In most cases, trade secrets are issues pertaining to internal management of the company, which do not involve any kind of government intervention. The most common means of securing trade secrets is by allowing access to only a few important executives and not everyone, or by keeping it safe in a bank along with other valuables and papers.
Trademarks, on the other hand, include words, designs or logos that are associated with the company on the whole or its products, which act as identifiers of its brand. Trademarks act as a quick recall of the company in the customer's mind and create a particular brand identity. Mostly trademarks hold good for 10 years after which a renewal is often required.
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