Learning Outcome

Recognize the property rights and

their protection
 Meaning
• Intellectual property rights are the legal rights that cover
the privileges given to individuals who are the owners
and inventors of a work, and have created something
with their intellectual creativity.
• Individuals related to areas such as literature, music,
invention, etc., can be granted such rights, which can
then be used in the business practices by them
Types of Intellectual
Property Rights
1) Copyrights
2) Patents
3) Trademarks
4) Designs
5) Geographical Indications
6) Trade Secrets
7) Plant Varieties
8) Superconductor Chips and Integrated Circuits
9) Traditional Knowledge
10) Biological Diversity
 On the basis of registration
• IP can be either registered or unregistered.
• With registered IP, you automatically have legal rights
over your creation.. Registered forms of IP include
patents, registered trade marks and registered design
rights. Copyright is also registerable.
• If you do not do this, others are free to exploit your
creations
 Treaties and reciprocal
agreements
• India is also a signatory to the following international IP
agreements:
1. The Paris Convention – under this, any person from a
signatory state can apply for a patent or trade mark in any
other signatory state, and will be given the same enforcement
rights and status as a national of that country would be;
2. the Berne Convention – under this, each member state
recognises the copyright of authors from other member states
in the same way as the copyright of its own nationals;
3. The Madrid Protocol – under this, a person can file a single trade mark
application at their national office that will provide protection in multiple
countries;
4. The Patent Cooperation Treaty – this is a central system for obtaining a
‘bundle’ of national patent applications in different jurisdictions through a single
application
• . India is not a signatory to the Hague
Agreement, which allows the protection of
designs in multiple countries through a
single filing.
 Trade marks
• It is covered under the Act called the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
• The Act came into effect on September 15, 2003. It replaced the Trade and
Merchandise Marks Act, 1958.
• Trademarks Act, 1999 has been further amended by The Trademarks
(Amendment) Act, 2010 to provide for protection of trademarks, in line
with the Madrid Protocol.
• It extends to the whole of India.
Examples
 Trademark
 A symbol, logo, word, sound, color, design, or other device
that is used to identify a business or a product in commerce.
 Different Symbols are :
™ Intent to use application filed for product
SM Intent to use application filed for services

® Registered trademark
 Note
• A service mark is not separately defined under the 1999 Act, but is
included in the definition of a trademark
• Using this symbol ™ with your trademark simply implies that you claim to
be the proprietor of the trademark. There is no prohibition on the use of
the symbol ™ in India.
• Only the proprietor of a trademark whose trademark has been registered
in India can use the symbol ® in India. Using the symbol ® unless your
mark has been registered in India is unlawful.
• A Trade Mark/Service Mark is valid for a period of 10
years.
• Trade Mark can be renewed in every 10 years.
Renewal application can be filed 6 months prior to
the due date of the next renewal date.
• Non-user of a registered trademark for a continuous
period of five years is a ground for cancellation of
registration of such trademark at the behest of any
aggrieved party.
 Infringement of trademarks
• Infringement of trademarks as per Section 29 of the Trademarks Act, 1999
is defined as a use of a mark, by an unauthorised or a person who is not
the registered proprietor, which is identical or deceptively similar to the
trademark in relation to the goods or services in respect of which the
trademark is registered.
 Infringement of trademarks
• The punishment for infringement of trademarks as a result of
falsification is a minimum of six months and maximum of
three years imprisonment and with a fine not less than
Rupees Fifty Thousand but which may extend to Rupees Two
Lakh
 Designs
• Law – Designs Act,
2000
• Meaning -
• Industrial designs refer to creative
activity which results in the
ornamental or formal appearance
of a product and ‘design right’
refers to a novel or original design
that is accorded to the proprietor
of a validly registered design.
Industrial designs are an element
of intellectual property
• The existing legislation on industrial designs in India
is contained in the New Designs Act, 2000
Rights of the proprietor of
the design
• When a proprietor applies for the registration of the design he shall automatically
get ‘copyrights in design’ for the period of 10 years from the date of registration.
• This period can be extended if the proprietor wants to continue with the design.
• The Design Act should not be confused with the Copyrights act because there are
many products which can be registered under both the acts but their remedies
cannot be sought in both the acts individually.
 Copyrights
• The Indian CopyrightAct,1957 governs the system of
copyrights in India. [Amended in 1999, 2002 and
2012,]
• Meaning : It is a right which Grants protection to the
unique expression of Ideas.
• The term original in the copyright law
means that the work originated with the
author.
• There is no requirement for novelty or
uniqueness as there is in patent law.
• Copyright law protects the expression of
an idea. Not the idea itself.
What is not covered by copyright
• Ideas
• Facts
• Recipes
• Works lacking originality (e.g. The phone
book)
• Names, titles or short phrases
Duration/Term of Copyright
 Copyright lasts for the-
• Copyright protection always expires on
December 31 of the last calendar year of
protection.
 Infringement of Copyright
• The law of copyright in India not only provides for civil remedies in
the form of permanent injunction, damages or accounts of profits,
delivery of the infringing material for destruction and cost of the legal
proceedings. etc.
• But also makes instances of infringement of copyright, a cognizable
offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than six months but which may extend to three years with a fine
which shall not be less than Rs 50,000 but may extend to Rs
2,00,000
 Infringement of Copyright
• For the second and subsequent offences, there are provisions for
enhanced fine and punishment under the Copyright Act.
• The (Indian) Copyright Act, 1957 gives power to the police
authorities to register the Complaint (First Information Report, ie,
FIR) and act on its own to arrest the accused, search the premises
of the accused and seize the infringing material without any
intervention of the court.
 Geographical Indications
• Geographical Indications of Goods are defined
as that aspect of industrial property which
refer to the geographical indication referring to
a country or to a place situated therein as
being the country or place of origin of that
product. Typically, such a name conveys an
assurance of quality and distinctiveness which
is essentially attributable to the fact of its origin
in that defined geographical locality, region or
country.
• India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO),
enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration &
Protection)Act, 1999 has come into force with effect from
15th September 2003.
There are three main ways to protect a
geographical indication:
– so-called sui generis systems (i.e. special
regimes of protection);
– using collective or certification marks; and
– methods focusing on business practices,
including administrative product approval
schemes.
• In many sui generis legislations, registrations for geographical
indications are not subject to a specific period of validity.
– This means that the protection for a registered geographical indication
will remain valid unless the registration is cancelled.
• Geographical indications registered as collective and
certification marks are generally protected for renewable ten-
year periods.
• In India, a geographical indication may initially be registered for a period
of ten years, and it can be renewed from time to time for further periods
of 10 years.
• Like any other intellectual property law, the regulations which govern
geographical indication also vary from one country to another.
• An Indian registration of geographical indication provides protection only
in the territories of India.
 Trade secret
• A “trade secret” is any valuable information
that is not publicly known and of which the
owner has taken “reasonable” steps to
maintain secrecy. These include information,
such as a business plans, customer lists, ideas
related to your research and development
cycle, etc.
• The subject matter of trade secrets is usually defined in broad
terms and includes sales methods, distribution methods,
consumer profiles, advertising strategies, lists of suppliers and
clients, and manufacturing processes.
• While a final determination of what information constitutes a
trade secret will depend on the circumstances of each
individual case
How are Trade Secrets Protected??
• Contrary to patents, trade secrets are protected without
registration, that is, trade secrets are protected without any
procedural formalities.
• Consequently, a trade secret can be protected for an
unlimited period of time.
• Trade secrets are not registered with a governmental body.
• All you need to do to
establish your information as
such is to treat it as a
trade secret.
Plant variety protection:
• Definition and significance
• Protection granted for plant
varieties, the rights of
farmers and plant breeders
and to encourage the
development of new
varieties of plants.
• CONCERNED IP ACT :
• The protection of plant varieties and farmers’
rights (PPV&FR) act, 2001
• Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Right
Authority’ has been created under the act.
Application can be made (by farmer, breeders)
to authority to claim protection on a particular
plant variety.
Semiconductor integrated circuits
layout-design:

• Definition and Significance :

• The aim of the Semiconductor
Integrated Circuits Layout-Design
Act 2000 is to provide protection of
Intellectual Property Right (IPR) in
the area of Semiconductor
• Integrated Circuit Layout Designs
and for matters connected
therewith or incidental thereto.
• Concerned IP Act :
• Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-
Design Act, 2000
• It is expected that the industry will make
increased use of this right to protect
integrated circuit layout designs.
• Under this, a SICLD registry has been created where layout designs
of integrated circuit chips can be registered.
• The Registrar will determine the originality of the design based on
the information available with him as also through the mechanism of
advertisement of the application for registration of the layout-design
and or any input he may receive.
• On registration, protection is granted for 10 years.
 Traditional Knowledge
• A collaboration – between
the Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research
(CSIR) and the
Department of Ayurveda,
Yoga and Naturopathy,
Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy (Dept. of
AYUSH), Ministry of
Health & Family Welfare,
Government of India.
• For protection of traditional knowledge
which will safeguard misappropriation of
traditional knowledge as well as promote
further research and development in
products and services based on traditional
knowledge.
• The creation of the Traditional Knowledge
Digital Library (TKDL) has been a major
achievement for India which has a vast
pool of traditional knowledge. India has
been able to thwart attempts to
misappropriate its traditional knowledge.
The next challenge is to use India’s
strength in traditional knowledge for its
effective promotion, development and
utilization.
• So far, over 2 lakh medicinal formulations
have been transcribed and the database is
present in 30 million A4-size pages.

Status as on 1 march,2016
 Biological Diversity

• Law –Biological
Diversity Act, 2002
in pursuance of
Convention on
Biological Diversity,
1993
• It has entered into force
on 29th December
1993.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) is a legally binding multilateral
environmental agreement that has 194
contracting Parties (Countries) as its
members with three objectives –
– Conservation of biological diversity,
– Sustainable use of the diversity and
– Ensuring fair and equitable sharing of
benefits of such use.
• Biological Diversity Act, 2002 aims to accord
similar protection to general biodiversity.
• There is no overlap between Biological
Diversity Act and Protection of Plant Varieties
and Farmer’s Rights Act (PPV&FRA).