Importance and Types of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Last Updated : 23 May, 2024

Intellectual Property Rights or IPR refers to the legal rights that creators or owners have over their
intellectual properties.

Intellectual Property, sometimes known as IP, refers to the creations of the human mind, exclusive to
a single person. Intellectual Property includes inventions, literature and artistic masterpieces,
designs, emblems, titles, and pictures utilized in commerce and business. Such creations are prone
to plagiarism or copying, Intellectual Property Rights protect them from unauthorized production,
distribution, and display.
Table of Content

 Meaning of Intellectual Property Rights(IPR)

 Why is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Important?

 Types of Intellectual Property Rights(IPR)

 Intellectual Property Rights- FAQs

Meaning of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

All the rights linked with intangible assets possessed by an individual or business to safeguard such
assets against unlawful use or exploitation are called Intellectual Property Rights. Such rights are
granted to the creators of intellectual property so that their creations cannot be used by others
without their permission. These include:

1. Right to reproduce such work

2. Right to sell such work

3. Right to create other forms of such work, etc.

Intellectual Property Rights are used to convey the monopoly of the holder over the usage of the
specified property or items for a definite time period. Any violation of these rights attracts severe
penalties.

Why is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Important?

Intellectual Property Rights are important because of the following reasons:

1. Boost Business Growth: There are chances of business ideas/strategies being stolen by rival
businesses in order to capture the firm’s market share and decelerate business growth. Therefore,
small and medium enterprises need to protect their exclusive goods and services because losing out
on market share and potential customers can be very harmful to such firms in the beginning stages.
Thus, IPRs help such firms by preserving their ideas.

2. Easing the Marketing Process: Intellectual Property is an essential tool for creating an identity for
a business. It helps a firm in distinguishing its own products and services in the market from those of
others and prevent plagiarism; thus, encouraging easier reach to the target customers, thereby
making the whole marketing process very seamless.

3. Safeguarding Unique Ideas: Many a time people try to copy the creation of others for their own
commercial profit. It becomes essential to protect such ideas and creations from rival parties to
ensure exclusivity and uniqueness in one’s own creation.

4. Raising Funds: Any Intellectual Property Right owner is free to monetise and commercialise his
Intellectual Property assets through sale, licensing and use as a guarantee for debt financing.
Intellectual Property Rights can also be used to raise funds through public borrowings, loans, and
government subsidies.

5. Enhancing Export Opportunities: A business with registered IPRs can use its brands and designs
to market its goods and services in other markets too. It means that a business with registered IPRs
can tap into franchising agreements with foreign companies or export their patented products.

Types of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

The different types of Intellectual Property Rights include:

1. Copyright:

Copyright refers to the right to “not copy”. It is a right pertaining to Intellectual Property such as
literature, art, music, sound recording, and cinematography. Copyright prohibits the unauthorised
use of the content, including acts such as the reproduction and distribution of copies of the subject
matter. Copyright enables the protection of work automatically as soon as the work comes into
existence. The registration of the copyright, though not mandatory, is essential to exercise the right
in case of an infringement.

2. Trademark:

A trademark is any word, name, and symbol, or a combination of words, names, and symbols that
lets us identify the goods made by an individual, company, or organisation and also differentiates
such goods from those of other parties. Examples of trademarks include the Apple logo, LG logo, Dell
logo, Audi logo, etc. There are many kinds of trademarks available to a goods/service provider in
India such as Product Marks, Service Marks, Collective Marks, Certification Marks, Shape Marks,
Pattern Marks, and Sound Marks. The registration of a trademark, though not mandatory, is
essential to establish exclusive rights over such marks.

3. Geographical Indication:

A geographical indication is used to identify and distinguish agricultural, natural, or manufactured

products from one geographical location to another. Manufactured products further entail
handicrafts, industrial goods, foodstuffs, etc. Such indications play a very important role in
highlighting the various components of our heritage, and collective goodwill of a certain geographical
region, that has been created over a period of time.

For example, many food items such as fruits and other things like wool, yarn, etc., come with labels
on their packages that specify the state or region they have been cultivated in or manufactured in so
as to reap the benefits of their goodwill, like Darjeeling is famous for its tea, Nagpur is famous for its
oranges, Kashmir for its Pashmina wool, etc.

4. Patent:

Patent is an official document giving it’s owner sole right to make, use or sell the invention and
preventing others from using it or copying it. Patents are conferred only upon inventions and not
the discovery of a phenomenon. Invention here refers to coming up with a device or an idea with
your own mind, whereas discovery means simply getting to know and find out something that
already exists in the universe.

The distinction between discovery and invention can be understood with the
following example: Isaac Newton discovered gravity when he saw an apple falling from a tree
while Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. In this case, the telephone can be patented
for being an innovation, but not the gravitational laws.

5. Design:

Nowadays customers 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 the most attractive
within their price range. Industrial products and handmade goods are the primary entities that use
design laws. These include cars, telephones, kitchen utensils, electrical appliances, etc. Such rights
entitle the right holder to control the commercial production, import, and sale of products with
the protected design.

6. Plant Variety:

Animal and plant breeders also enjoy special rights over the species/varieties of flora and fauna
bred by them. Some parties argue that such varieties are a result of a natural phenomenon;
however, they are usually the representatives of gene combinations and skillful natural selection. A
number of laws govern the rights available to plant varieties and their breeders, the primary ones
being- The Plant Variety Protection Act, 1970, and The Utility Patent Act, 1985.

7. Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design:

Semiconductors are an important part of a computer chip, designed to perform an electronic

circuitry function. The term Semiconductor Layout Design refers to the design or layout of transistors
and other elements involved in circuit work in computers. Special rights are conferred for the
protection of semiconductor integrated circuits layout- designs so that rival companies do not copy
the design and sell it as their own.

Intellectual Property Rights – FAQs

What are different types of intellectual property rights?

There are various types of intellectual property rights such as Copyright, Trademark, Geographical
Indication, Patent, Design, Plant Variety, Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design.

What is the scope of Intellectual property rights?

The scope of intellectual property covers a wide range of intangible creations computer software,
publications, music, plant varieties logos, trademarks etc.

What is Intellectual Property Rights in India?

In India Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are territorial rights that can be registered with a legal
authority in some presentable or tangible form which can be sold or bought or licensed.

What are the advantages of IPR?

IPR provides a competitive advantage to creators and innovators by preventing other from copying
and reproducing their work and helps them to recoup their investments and benefit from their work