INTELECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Intellectual Property represents an indication demonstrating general trends relating to human creativity and management techniques. This means the results of intellectual activities are represented by original and creative ideas as inventions or utility models, representing unique designs, but also by music, novels, paintings or similar works. Laws such as the patent law, utility model law, design law, and copyright law protect these works under International agreements and countries particular laws.

 

Trade names or trademarks are names used in order to conduct a business and represent an indication of business activities. These trademarks are names created by the user in order to indicate what kind of services or products can be provided under the trademark name also called a brand. Trade names are also protected by commercial laws and trademark laws.

 

 

In addition, new areas, which should be also protected, are increasing among theses intellectual property fields. Among these new areas are biotechnology, electronics-information processing, and other so called high-tech fields which are experiencing a tremendous magnitude of development due for instance to development of computer programs involving copyright laws, or semiconductor chips. Improper acquisition and use of trade secrets such as client lists or manufacturing technologies indicate attempts to the legislation.

 

Production and sale of products imitations of alleged to contain a content or quality representing a trademark such as Champagne, or Cognac, or another unique regional trademark represents infringements. These business activities represent unfair competition and thus are subject to regulations relating to improper competition and laws design to stop unfair competition.

Laws intended at stopping unfair competition have been adopted in addition to closely defined industrial property rights, and in a wide sense, these laws are also related to intellectual property rights.

By agreements reached between the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), WTO and TRIPS (organization for intellectual property rights related to trade) intellectual property rights has been strengthened in recent years also due to increasing the level of international consciousness about the effect of increased competitions among countries and industries in each country.

These and other agreements have established an integrated system designed to protect intellectual property rights in each country through treaties, various international meetings, and similar activities.

The system of industrial property rights is consequently a system of laws adopted in accordance with the "Patent Law", "New Utility Model Law", "Design Law", and "Trademark Law". This system thus relates to four types of rights, which are based on the international legislation, to items called patents, new utility models, designs, and trademarks.

 

Industrial Property Right System

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of a system of industrial property rights is to encourage and to motivate inventors and creators of designs, to protect their rights, and to motivate confidence in the maintenance of business activities related to trademarks. The system thus must be designed to form a solid base for industrial development.

Protection of the Patent Law

Specifically, the purpose of the law is to protect a high level of creativity in technological concepts, which use natural laws and rules.

Consequently, calculation methods or encryption determined by arbitrarily defined rules, for instance for finance and insurance systems or taxation methods, which are not based on natural laws and rules, do not represent a protected subject.

Finally, a high level of technological creativity must characterize the created product because a creation characterized by a low technological creativity level cannot be protected.

Protection of the Utility Model Law

New Utility Model Law, intends the protection of forms of products, structures, or combinations of related items, which were created using creative technological concepts based on natural laws and rules.

Consequently, methods relating to products are not a protected subject as long as they only relate to shapes and forms of products, etc.

In addition, a high level of creativity applied to creation of a technological concept is no longer required for protected subjects, although this is required for protected subjects under the Patent Law.

Protection of the Design

Design Law, intends the protections of items, which give rise to a sense of beauty through a visual perception that is connected to the shape of a product, or its pattern or color.

The creation of a design is an abstract concept, similar to the conception according to the New Utility Model Law or Patent Law, while inventions and utility models are created with technological concepts using the operation of natural laws and rules.

The Design Law provides protection for creativity, which is based on the concept of beauty from the viewpoint of an esthetic perception of a design.

Protection of Trademark System

The purpose of Trademark Systems law is to protect the interests of all consumers by protecting trademarks through a design ensuring confidence for operations of persons using trademarks, to further contribute to development of industry.

The benefits from satisfactory economic activities of various companies and other economic entities, a system determining different brands must be created so that the consumers could expect a certain level of quality of products or services from certain brands.

That is the main reasonn a system of trademarks must be established in order to protect these trademarks because such trademarks indicate a certain specific function of a product or a service identified by a trademark.

Patenting

Introduction

A patent is a convention between the inventor or applicant for the patent and the State, achieving the inventor or applicant a monopoly from the State for a certain period in return for disclosing full details of the invention.

A patent concedes to the holder, for a limited period, the right to exclude others from exploiting as manufacturing, using, selling or importing the patented invention except with the permission of the patentee. The owner of a patent is the person or organization, which is registered as the proprietor.

In many cases, employees make inventions, and usually in such cases the employer will be the owner/proprietor.

A patent is a form of industrial property that may be bought, sold, licensed or used by the owner, either in whole or in part. Although there is considerable international harmonization, particularly with Europe, there are several differences in the American system.

A patent lasts from 20 years from the date of filing the application.

Patenting Process

Filing a patent application merely represents the first stage of a series of stages before a patent may be granted. Extensive examination of patents also means that many patents filed are not necessarily granted.

Patenting costs increase significantly at each stage. The first stage involves initial filing, the second stage filing an international application and the third designating specific countries.

Patentability

To be patented, the inventions must satisfy the following criterias:

Novelty

It must not have been disclosed to the public before an application is filed; a person must not have disclosed his invention to the public application other than the inventors to preserve worldwide patent rights; the inventors must not have disclosed invention to the public before the filing date of the application.

Canada and the United States have a one-year grace period with respect to public disclosure of the invention by the inventors, whereby the inventors must not have disclosed inventions to the public more than one year before the filing date of the application.

NON-OBVIOUNESS OR INVENTIVENESS:

Inventions must be a new combination of features to be patented and/or give new and non-obvious results compared to known approaches.

Common differences in size, materials or other obvious adaptations are generally not patentable. It must involves an inventive step and must be non-obvious to one skilled in the relevant field/art.

UTILITY

The invention must perform a function, also must be useful and have some benefit. A machine that doesn't perform its intended purpose is not useful, and therefore cannot be patented. It must be capable of industrial application ie it must be useful.