My First Blog on pharmainfo.net Dedicated to Expertize Area of My Guide My Master

What is Intellectual Property?

To some extent you may already know the answer to this question. We know that the inventor of a machine, the author of a book, or the writer of music somehow usually ‘own’ their work. From this ownership, certain consequences flow and you probably have been made aware of the fact that we cannot just copy or buy a copy of their works without consideration of their rights.

Equally, original industrial designs of furniture, wallpaper and the like seem naturally to be owned by someone or some organization. Each time we buy such ‘protected’ items, a part of what we pay goes back to the owner as recompense for the time, money, effort and thought they put into the creation of the work. This has resulted over the years in the development of industries such as the music industry growing worldwide and encouraging new talent to produce more and more original ideas and articles.

For various administrative and historical reasons, intellectual property is usually dealt with under the following main headings:

1) Literary, artistic and scientific works e.g. books. Protection of this property is governed by laws concerning Copyright.

2) Performances, broadcasts e.g. concerts. Protection of this property is governed by laws concerning Copyright's Related Rights.

3) Inventions e.g. a new form of jet engine. Protection of inventions is covered by laws concerning Patents.

4) Industrial designs e.g. the shape of a soft drinks bottle. Industrial Designs may be protected by its own specialized laws, or those of Industrial Property or Copyright.

5) Trademarks, service marks and commercial names and designations e.g. logos or names for a product with unique geographical origin, such as Champagne. Protection is normally available under various laws. In this course the laws are covered within the Trademark module.

6) Protection against unfair competition. e.g. false claims against a competitor or imitating a competitor with a view to deceive the customer. This is a theme that occurs in many of the modules in this course and is in fact the subject of a separate module.

To be continued in next blog keep watching this space...............