The number of various types of legal monopolies over creations of idea, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law is called Intellectual property (IP). Under intellectual property law, owners have exclusive rights to some intangible assets like musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries, and inventions; and words. phrases, symbols, and designs. There are four main kinds of intellectual property – copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.
Copyrights deal with safety of original creative works. They protect the owner’s rights over pieces like musical compositions, poetry, films, novels etc. By using them, the owner can legally guard the expression of an idea for a certain period, during which only he or she has the authority to reproduce it, permit its adaptation, exhibit it to people, or sell it off. The creator has a claim over his creation for more than 50 years, which is valid even after his demise and any unlawful use of the creation within this time is treated as an offence.
Patents are legal and certified rights that allow inventors to prevent others from producing or promoting their invention. They can usually be applied to cases like significant biological discoveries, new theories in science and technical inventions. In most nations, patent protection is available for a limited period of 20 years and the inventor loses his exclusive rights over the invention following the end of this period.
Trade secrets are undisclosed information that can be used by the firm to defeat its competitors. Trade secrets can be anything ranging from a new software to the recipe of a food item and even details such as contact numbers of most important clients. Usually, trade secrets are not controlled by the state machinery but by rigid internal rules and by-laws of the particular company. The most common means of protecting trade secrets is by confining the information to only a few important executives and not everyone, or by keeping it safe in a bank together with other valuable items and documents.
Trademarks include words, logos and designs that symbolize a particular brand or firm and differentiate it from the competing brands. Trademarks create a unique brand identity that enables the customers recall or identify the company on noticing the trademark. Generally, a trademark certification holds valid for a decade after which it has to be renewed.
Discover more about Trademark Registration Singapore and discover how does an Intellectual Property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.
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