INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual Property (IP) is an exclusive rights associated to creations of the mind. Under which, intangible assets such as inventions, literary and artistic work, designs, and phrases, symbols and images can be protected. This protection can be obtained thanks to different kinds of IP rights like patents, trademark, designs, copyright, and enables their owner to earn recognition or financial benefit from their creation or invention.

A patent is a title which provides its owner the right to prevent others from exploiting the invention mentioned in the patent. It does not allow by itself making or selling an invention but it rather gives the right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing the patented invention.

Hence patent consists on a deal between inventors and society:

• For the inventor – a patent is the way to prevent competitors from copying its invention
• For society – a patent consists on improving innovation process by the public disclosure of innovations.

A trademark is a sign by which a business identifies its products or services and distinguishes them from those supplied by competitors. Trademark can be distinctive words, marks or other features. Its purpose is to establish in the mind of the customer a link between all the different products and/or services that the company offers, and then distinguish them from those supplied by competitors.

Designs are concerned with the features, the appearance of a part or the whole product:

• Two-dimensional features such as patterns, lines and/or color
• Three-dimensional features such as shape, texture and/or surface of an article are protectable by design right if they are not dictated by functional considerations.

Registration of design confers on the owner (for a limited time) the exclusive right to use the design and to authorize others to use it. It also includes the right to make, offer, put on the market, import, export, or use a product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied, or to stock such a product for those purposes.

Copyright is a legal term describing rights given to creators for their original literary, musical or artistic works which allow them to control their subsequent use. These include for example:

• computer software
• drawings, maps, charts or plans
• photographs and films
• architectural works
• sculptures
• sound recordings
• TV and radio broadcasts

Copyright protection has two components:

• Moral rights – which are not transferable and give the creator the right to be identified as the author of the work and the right to object to any distortion or mutilation of the work.
• Economic rights – which entitle the owner to control the use of its creation in a number of ways (making copies, issuing copies to the public, performing in public, broadcasting etc) and to obtain an appropriate economic reward.

Intellectual property backs immeasurably to our national and state economies. Dozens of industries across our economy rely on the adequate enforcement of their patent, trademark, and copyright, while consumers use Intellectual Property to ensure they are purchasing safe, guaranteed products. Some major aspects are explained below:

Companies can increase their competitiveness in a variety of ways by dedicating time and resources to the importance of their Intellectual Property (IP) protection. IP assets are a source of value for companies and also reasons why they should be managed as part of a business strategy. For instance, it can help to promote a company to a leading role in its business/trade field.

• Intellectual Property intensive industries employ hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
• Jobs in Intellectual Property intensive industries are expected to grow faster over the next decade than the national average.
• The average worker in an Intellectual Property intensive industry earned about 30% more than his counterpart.
• The average salary in Intellectual Property intensive industries pay per worker is far more compared to the national average.

• Intellectual Property intensive industries account for over 1/3– or 38%– of total GDP.
• These industries also have 72.5% higher output per worker than the national average.
• Intellectual Property accounts for a great significance in exports.

Intellectual Property rights, whether it is a patent, a design or other form of rights, represent an investment with an expected return. Therefore turning an invention into a marketable product and potential source of steady income is a crucial stage in the innovation process and IP rights help businesses to protect and prevent their market shares.

• Strong IP rights help consumers make an educated choice about the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of their purchases.
• Enforced IP rights ensure products are authentic, and of the high-quality that consumers recognize and expect.
• IP rights foster the confidence and ease of mind that consumers demand and markets rely on.

• Nearly all of the 300 products on the World Health Organization’s Essential Drug List, which are critical to saving or improving people’s lives around the globe, came from the R&D-intensive pharmaceutical industry that depends on patent protections.
• Innovative agricultural companies are creating new products to help farmers produce more and better products for the world’s hungry while reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.
• IP-driven discoveries in alternative energy and green technologies will help improve energy security and address climate change.

Risk and occasional failure are the lifeblood of the innovation economy. IP rights incentivize entrepreneurs to keep pushing for new advances in the face of adversity.

In short Intellectual Protection rights are important because they can:

• Set your business apart from competitors
• Be sold or licensed, providing an important revenue stream
• Offer customers something new and different
• Form an essential part of your marketing or branding
• Be used as security for loans
• Intellectual Property as a source of competitor monitoring
• Protect it against breach by others and ultimately defend in the courts your sole right to use, make, sell or import it
• Stop others using, making, selling or importing it without your permission
• Earn royalties by licensing it
• Exploit it through strategic alliances
• Make money by selling it

Bringing all of these important and diverse points together is the fact that protecting Intellectual Property is a non-partisan issue that is shared by a broad coalition of interests. These rights are embraced by all areas of industry—small, medium and large companies. We are keen to assist you in every step of protecting your intellectual property either a trademark, copyright, design and patent.

Government Fees:

Government Fee for registration of one Trade Mark is Rs.13,000/=. At the time of filling application Rs.3,000/= will be paid and the remaining Rs.10,000/= will be paid at the time of final registration of Trade Mark and Copyrights Government fee is Rs.6,000/= at the time of filling application in shape of payorders.