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What is Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property
Ownership interest by an individual or entity in creations of the human mind that may be protected under the law.
Property rights are the basis of industrial property protection. They make it possible to enter new markets, to set oneself apart from competitors and, in the best case scenario, to establish monopolies over inventions, innovations and the technologies resulting from them for a finite period of time.

Patent:
Protection provided by the law for the inventions or discoveries of a person or entity or for the procedures developed by such person or entity.

Patents provide protection for the inventors or developers of inventions or techniques that are new and useful and that are not obvious to the skilled in the art. Patents can affect “hard” technologies such as developed products and inventions, and can be applied to designs and methods in which products can be manufactured and put to use. In order to be eligible for patent protection, an idea or product must be something that does not already exist in that form and it must not be something that can be easily deduced from a currently available idea or design.
Patents are property rights to protect technical inventions. An extensive worldwide system of rights enables you, as an inventor or patent applicant, to obtain patent protection for your invention across the world. Patent offices which are responsible for the filing of applications for and the examination of patents exist in almost all countries.

Trademark:
A distinctive word, phrase, logo or other graphic symbol that is used to distinguish one product, company or organization from another. Trademarks seek to protect against confusion in the customers.

Trademarks are words or symbols that are used by a manufacturer or seller of an item and serve to identify and distinguish the goods of that proprietor from those of all others. Trademark protection arises automatically upon the usage of the trademark in commerce. However, as with copyrights, trademarks could be registered with government authorities. Taking this step affords the holder of the trademark much greater protection than that would be available in the case where the trademark is not filed.
Trademarks can apply to slogans, mottos, or logos and can even apply when the goods of a particular manufacturer or seller are packaged in a unique way (called “trade dress”). However, it must be noted that marks, designs or logos must be unique or at least be very distinctive before they are offered trademark protection. A trademark is a sign which is capable of distinguishing goods and services of one company from those of another business. Words, letters, numbers, slogans, pictures, sounds, three-dimensional forms and other presentational aspects can be protected as signs of this nature if they meet certain requirements. After a precise review of what is known as absolute grounds for refusal, the trademark is registered. The term of protection initially lasts for 10 years from the date of registration on, but can be extended as desired. The effect of trademark protection is that other companies cannot use those words/designs or any words/designs that are “confusingly similar” to the trademarked words/designs on their products.

Copyright:
Protection provided by the law to an individual or entity for original works produced by that author. Copyright law protects the original works of authors.

Copyrights provide protection for works that were authored by the copyright holder. Those works can be in any form and can be delivered through any medium. Thus, copyright protection can protect written essays or books, songs, paintings and other works of art, movies, computer software, etc. Copyright protection for any original work is automatic and it arises immediately upon completion of a work. However, the protection afforded can be greatly enhanced by registering the copyright with the Copyright Office.
Note that copyright ownership usually allows the owner to prevent dissemination of the work and it prevents any other person from copying elements of the copyrighted work for his or her own commercial benefit.

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