Intellectual Property Rights (I. P. R.) : by Tanisha Gangrade

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Intellectual Property Rights

( I. P. R.)

By Tanisha Gangrade
Summary
 What is Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Rights
 Objectives of IPRs
 History of IPR in INDIA
 Trade Secret
 Trade Mark
 Industrial Design
 Patents
 Copyrights
 Plant Variety Protection
 Geographical Indication
Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual Property - Intellectual Property is an idea, a design, an
invention, a manuscript etc. which can ultimately give rise to a useful
product and application.
Intellectual Property Rights - Right of an inventor to derive
economic benefits from his intellectual property; this right is called as
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
OR

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are legal rights that protect


creations and/or inventions resulting from intellectual activity in the
industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.
Objectives of Granting IPR

1. It helps in protecting the ownership and originality of the


individuals’ creation.
2. It provides recognition to the concerned person or authority.
3. It allows owners of intellectual property to have financial
benefits from the property they have created.
4. They are provided financial incentive for the creation of and also
to incur the cost of investment in intellectual property.
5. Such rights motivate individuals’ creativity and thus also
contribute to economic growth.
6. It can also offer some economic aid to the holder of the right,
through the monopoly of their creations.
7. It improves the financial status of the individual as well as of the
economy of the country.
8. To enhance the performance levels of institutions.
9. To create competition among the researchers and
institutions for quality of research.
History of Intellectual Property Rights

The first law on patent was passed in Venice in 1474 which gave
monopoly rights to artisans for their inventions.

Legislations covering IPRs in India


 Patents: The Patents Act, 1970 and was amended in 1999 and
2002. The amended Act after the amendments made in 2002
came in to force on May 20, 2003.

 Design: A new Design Act 2000 has been enacted


superseding the earlier Designs Act 1911.
 Trade Mark: A new Trademarks Act, 1999 has been
enacted superseding the earlier Trade and Merchandise Marks
Act, 1958. The Act came in force from September 15, 2003.

 Copyright: The Copyright Act, 1957 as amended in 1983,


1984 and 1992, 1994,1999 and the Copyright Rules, 1958.

 Protection of Undisclosed Information: No exclusive


legislation exists but the matter would be generally covered
under the Contract Act, 1872.
 Geographical Indications: The Geographical Indication of
Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999.

 Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act


2001 (PPV&FR - 2001): Sui generis system of plant varieties
protection.

 National Biological Diversity Act 2002: It shall provide


legal protection to our bio-diversity.
Trade Secret
When an individual organization owning and intellectual property
does not disclose the property to anyone and keep it as a closely
guarded secret, it is called a Trade Secret. Trade secret may relate to
formulae, processes or materials. The best guarded secret of the
modern time concern the formulation of Coca Cola.
(Merchandise 7X, the "secret ingredient" or "secret formula" in Coca-
Cola) [NFL Exam 2021]. The ingredient has remained a secret since
its invention in 1886 by John Pemberton.
Trade secrets offer following advantages

 They are for unlimited duration.


 It is not necessary to satisfy the rather stringent requirement
for protection under patents.
 The cost of filing, contesting and enforcing patent is saved.
 The risk of someone improving upon the product, process etc
is minimised.
Drawbacks of trade secret
 Maintaining a trade secret itself a costly affair.
 It offers no protection from independent innovation invention.
 Non disclosure of the invention, innovation does not give
others a chance to improve upon the original invention.
 It cannot be applied to many inventions example equipment
designs, plant varieties, books etc.
Trade Mark

A “Trade Mark” [ ] is defined under Section 2(zb) of the


TM

Indian Trademarks Act, 1999 as “Mark capable of being


represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing
the goods or services of one person from those of others and
may include a shape of goods, their packaging, and combination
of colors.”
Simply put, a trademark may include a device, brand, heading,
label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, shape of goods,
packaging or combination of colors or any such combinations. The
only qualification for a trademark being its capacity to distinguish
the goods or services of one person from that of another.

For example, one can identify the products of


Reebok/LG/Whirlpool/Godrej through their logo, which is
embossed on their products. Another example can be the logo of
NGO’s like WHO, UNICEF and so on which differentiates these
institutions with each other.
Industrial design

These aesthetic aspects can be hugely important in the modern


economy. Nowadays consumers face an enormous choice of products,
including many that offer the same basic functionality. So they will
tend to choose the one with the design they find most attractive within
their price range.
Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of industrial products
and handmade goods: cars, telephones, computers, packaging and
containers, technical and medical instruments, watches, jewelry,
electrical appliances, textile designs, and many other types of goods.
What designs can be protected?

Industrial design law only protects those aspects of a


product that are ornamental; its technical features may be
protected by patent, if they meet the requirements for
patent protection. A design may consist of three-
dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an
article, or two dimensional features such as patterns,
lines or colour.
Industrial design rights

Industrial design rights entitle the right holder to control the


commercial production, importation and sale of products with the
protected design.

Industrial design rights last for a limited period. This varies among
countries, but the maximum period of protection in a country will be at
least ten years. In many countries, owners need to renew their
registration every few years if they want to keep the design protected for
the maximum possible period.
Patents
Patents are rights related to new discoveries. Patents are
used to protect new product, process and apparatus.

A patent is the right granted by a government to an inventor


to exclude others from imitating, manufacturing, using or
selling the invention in question for commercial use during the
specific period.
Patents are granted for Patents requirement

1. An invention (including a product), The chief requirement for the grant of a


patent are follows.
2. Innovation/improvement in an
1. Novelty
invention,
2. Inventiveness
3. Process/product of an invention, 3. Industrial Application and Usefulness
4. A concept. 4. Patentability
5. Discloser

Novelty - The invention must be new and should not be already known to the public.

Inventiveness- The invention should not be obvious to a person skilled in the art, and
should represent an innovation
Industrial Application and Usefulness - The subject matter of the patent must have
an industrial application, either immediate or in the future that is useful to the
society/nation.

Patentability - The subject matter of a patent must be patentable under the existing
law and its current interpretation. For example, The Indian patent act of 1970 did
not allow product patents in pharmaceutical foods and agro chemicals. But this act
has now been amended as Indian patent act 1999 and the new act allows product
patents except for some specified medicine drugs.

Disclosure - The inventor is required to describe his invention in sufficient detail so


that a person of normal skill is able to reproduce it.
The property which cannot be patented
 A scientific principle or an abstract theory.
 A discovery of new property or new use for known substance.
 A method of agriculture or horticulture.
 Inventions relating to Atomic Energy are not patentable.
A famous example of Patent

A patent entitled BASMATI RICE line and grain for a novel, high yielding, medium
dwarf, photo insensitive rice having all the desirable features of basmati rice was
awarded to RiceTech Texas (USA) in USA on September 2, 1997. These claims were
challenged by India and the request for re-examination of the patent was filed on April
28, 2000.
Limitations of a Patent
There are 2 basic limitations of patent.

1. Limitation of time - A patent is valid for a specific period i.e.


15-20 years.

2. Limitation of space - A patent is valid only in the country of its


award and not in other countries.
Copyright
Copyright

It provides protection for specified period and only from


reproduction of the copyright material. It, however does not prevent
another person from using either the idea or the information
contained in a Copyright material. Biotechnology Copyright
protection is available for DNA sequences.
It is a right that is provided to the owner of a literary or artistic
work. It is an exclusive right to control the publication, distribution
and adaptation of creative works.
 Duration / Term of Copyright
The right lies with the owner cum copyright holder for a
certain period of time. As time lapses, the work can be
republished or reproduced by others. In the case of original
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, the duration of
copyright is the lifetime of the author or artist, and 60 years
counted from the year following the death of the author.
In case of anonymous works, the right lasts for 95 years after
publication or 120 years after the creation.
 What can be protected?
1. Literary or dramatic work.
2. A musical work.
3. An artistic work.
4. A cinematograph film.
5. A sound recording.
6. A photograph.
7. A computer generated work.
Plant variety protection
Plant varieties and animal breeds should be regarded as intellectual
properties of the breeders who have developed them. It may be
argued that these entities are essentially derived from naturally
occurring lines, but they usually represent a considerable
reorganization of the existing gene combinations and skilful
selection work.
In USA the following 3 different system of protection are available
for IPR related to plants.
Cont…

1. The plant patents act 1930: covers varieties of asexually


Propagated crops, example ornamental and fruit trees.

2. The plant variety protection act of 1970: is US version of the


Plant breeder’s rights system followed by European Union and
several other countries, including India. [PPV&FR – 2001]

3. The utility patent act 1985: was originally meant to cover men
made industrial inventions and process.
Geographical indication ( G I )

A geographical indication is a sign used on


products that have a specific geographical
origin and possess qualities or a reputation
that are due to that origin.
 Geographical indications are “indications which identify a
good as originating the territory of a member, or a region
or a locality in that territory, where given quality,
reputation or characteristics of the good is essentially
attributable to its geographical origin.

 GI covers Agricultural goods, Natural products,


Manufactured products, Goods of Handicraft, and even
Food products, but they do not apply to intellectual
properties.
India has invented the Geographical Indications of Goods Act
(1999) which came into force on September 15, 2003. Darjeeling tea
was the first product to be tagged with GI in 2004-05 and 132
products including Bikaneri bhujia from Rajasthan, Banarasi
brocades and sarees had become GI tagged upto September 2010.

Duration of GIs

The registration of a GI shall be for a period of Ten years


but may be renewed from time to time for an unlimited
period by payment of the renewal fees.
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