Intellectual property rights protect proprietary interests in intangible property.  They allow owners to commercialise their products and provide an incentive to innovate by allowing them to recoup high R&D capital outlay

Patent

Applies to inventions and new processes

Criteria for registration:

• Must be new or novel
• Must involve an inventive step – not obvious to people in the field
• Must be useful – do what it says it does
• Protection applies for 20 years
• The inventive process is disclosed publicly through patent protection
• Overseas patents – country-based and regulated through WIPO

Trademark

Applies to signs or identification marks of goods/services which distinguish products from others e.g. logos, colours

• Needs to distinguish a brand or product
• Can’t be generic or descriptive
• Applies in certain classes only
• Applies for 10 years

Copyright

Applies to owner’s expression of ideas through words, drawing, film and computer programs

• Must be original work
• No registration is required, it applies automatically
• Lasts life of the author plus 70 years
• Moral rights (separate to copyright) – right to be attributed as author and not have works treated in a derogatory way

Design

Applies to visual appearance of products

• Must be ‘new’ and ‘distinctive’
• Applies for 5 years

Other

Geographical Indicators – identify goods as originating in a certain location, where that location gives them particular characteristics

Trade Secrets – protects confidential business information (automatic protection, not application needed)

Circuit Layouts – computer chip designs – automatic protection