Learn how WIPO celebrates and empowers intellectual property examiners, who play a key role in ensuring the quality of patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications around the world. The creator of a work is generally considered to be its owner, but intellectual property can be determined differently depending on different types of property and under different circumstances. The employer is the owner of that intellectual property if the work was created for him. Property rights can also be transferred to other parties. Intellectual property (IP) refers to different types of intangible expressions (such as artistic and literary works, discoveries and inventions, words, symbols and designs) for which specific monopoly rights are recognized under specific laws.
Intellectual property (IP) refers to the creations of the human mind, such as artistic works and inventions. However, this term refers not only to the creations of people, but also to intangible assets owned by commercial entities, for example, industrial designs, symbols, logos and names. Trademarks are designed to protect the words, phrases, and symbols used to identify and distinguish commercial products or services. Keep in mind that trademarks may apply to names and to the visual elements associated with these names. For example, a trademark may include the logo of a company or product along with its name.
Patents are a means of legal protection for inventors, which apply to creations or discoveries. A patent gives its inventor the exclusive right to prevent others from manufacturing, using, selling or falsifying the patented invention for a specified period in exchange for publicly disclosing the details of the invention. The term trade secrets applies to confidential information related to the company that is not in the public domain and provides the company with a competitive advantage. Trade secrets can include methods, designs, processes, formulas, recipes, designs, and business plans.
Some examples of trade secrets could be an algorithm that uses a search engine to classify results or a formula for a soda. Companies use many ways to protect their business secrets, for example, through confidentiality agreements with employees or contractors. Solutions such as data loss prevention (DLP) are especially useful for protecting trade secrets and preventing them from being exposed to unauthorized third parties. Geographical indications (GI) are signs used to identify products (usually food and beverages) that come from a certain place, as well as the specific characteristics that are due to that place of origin.
Geographical indications are similar to trademarks in that they are used to identify the origin of a product. Industrial design rights are a type of intellectual property rights that protect the appearance of a product, including its shape, configuration or ornamentation. Industrial design rights are very similar to the design patents discussed above, but there are some important differences between the two types of protection. Both design patents and industrial design rights grant the owner of the protected design the exclusive right to prevent others from manufacturing, selling, or importing products that incorporate the protected design.
In law, intellectual property refers directly to the creations of the mind. Basically, this means any invention, literary and artistic work, design, symbol, name and image that you have created, or that you have hired someone to create for you, to be used by your company in commerce. Ultimately, intellectual property extends to anything you created to represent your company, to anything you plan to sell, and to any unique invention or idea that gives your company a business advantage. Later, the organization moved to Geneva in 1960 and was succeeded in 1967 with the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) through a treaty as an agency of the United Nations.
Intellectual property attorneys specialize in this process to ensure that someone else's protected intellectual assets are not used. Major intellectual property violations consist of the infringement, falsification and misappropriation of trade secrets. The intangible nature of intellectual property presents difficulties compared to traditional property, such as land or assets. The term intellectual property began to be used in the 19th century, although it wasn't until the end of the 20th century that intellectual property became commonplace in most of the world's legal systems.
Intellectual property, often referred to as intangible assets, has the same value to companies as tangible assets. In civil law jurisdictions, intellectual property is often referred to as intellectual rights, a traditionally somewhat broader concept that has included moral rights and other personal protections that cannot be bought or sold. Supporters of intellectual property laws often describe their primary objective as encouraging the creation of a wide variety of intellectual property. When they alleged that Uber had obtained their intellectual property, they were able to take legal action to try to prevent Uber from using the information to improve its own autonomous vehicle program. As in many areas of law, the responsibilities of intellectual property attorneys vary depending on their specialty.
Companies are diligent in identifying and protecting intellectual property because it has great value in an economy that is increasingly knowledge-based. Unlike traditional property, intellectual property is indivisible, since, in theory, an unlimited number of people can consume an intellectual good without it running out. It is believed that the human mind itself is the source of wealth and survival and that all the property that supports it is intellectual property. The alternative terms information monopolies and intellectual monopoly have emerged among those who argue against assumptions of property, intellect or rights, especially Richard Stallman.
Regardless of size, every company will have intellectual property (IP) that it will need to protect at some point.
