The Basics
There are 3 commonly discussed areas within Intellectual Property Rights that we look at briefly. These are Copyright, Patents and Trademarks.
Copyright
Copyright applies to work that is recorded in some way such as a photograph that may have recorded an incident or an occasion. The rights exist to give, in this case, the photographer some protection of the image that he or she has taken and prohibits anyone from using the image without their consent. Other areas covered that also benefit the creator by giving them automatic rights are art work, literary, musical songs, films, sound recordings and typographical arrangements. The creators of these things are given specific rights that prohibits unauthorised use of their work , and allows the creator to take legal action against anyone who infringes upon their rights or who plagiarises their work claiming it as their own.
It used to be known that the creators of pieces of work could place these in sealed envelopes and post these to themselves and then store them safely without opening them as a means of protecting their rights. The date stamped on the envelope could be used to prove they were the creator in many cases.
Trademarks
There are 3 commonly discussed areas within Intellectual Property Rights that we look at briefly. These are Copyright, Patents and Trademarks.
Copyright
Copyright applies to work that is recorded in some way such as a photograph that may have recorded an incident or an occasion. The rights exist to give, in this case, the photographer some protection of the image that he or she has taken and prohibits anyone from using the image without their consent. Other areas covered that also benefit the creator by giving them automatic rights are art work, literary, musical songs, films, sound recordings and typographical arrangements. The creators of these things are given specific rights that prohibits unauthorised use of their work , and allows the creator to take legal action against anyone who infringes upon their rights or who plagiarises their work claiming it as their own.
It used to be known that the creators of pieces of work could place these in sealed envelopes and post these to themselves and then store them safely without opening them as a means of protecting their rights. The date stamped on the envelope could be used to prove they were the creator in many cases.
Trademarks
A trademark is more easily remembered as being a symbol such as a tick that many of you would instantly recognise as a sports brand. The tick is a trademark and cannot be used by anyone else without penalty. A trademark can also be a name, a slogan or other means of uniquely being able to recognise and identify a company etc through association.
Trademarks are registered at a national or territory level with an appointed government body. They have to be registered at a cost unlike the Copyright.
There is now a new Community Trade Mark (CTM) which covers the mark in all EU countries.
Design rights
Designs may be subject to both copyright and design rights. They may also be registered in a similar way to patents. There can be issues with Designs that are created by Designers in particular if they are working for a company when they come up with something new and more-so if they have moved from one company to another while working on the new idea. Who legally owns the idea? The Designer who came up with it or the company who employed them to design it?
Patents
Patents apply to industrial processes and inventions, and are a means of protecting an idea or invention for a period of time. The way something is made or how a part of it is made is often patented, especially if it is impossible to make it by any other means. This prevents others from being able to copy it easily. Just as with trademarks, patents are registered at a national or territorial level with an appointed government body. Patents typically take 2 to 3 years to be granted as checks have to be carried out to make sure that no one else has come up with the idea previously and have already patented the idea themselves.
