Intellectual Property Rights

INTRODUCTION: It is an idea or thought leading to actual invention of a product or a process. I.P.R. is a legal protection for new inventions, products, processes which are the result of an individual’s ideas.
(1)PATENT: A Patent is a grant by the government for the exclusive rights to an inventor for his invention in exchange for the inventor disclosing his invention to society.
CRITERIA FOR PATENTABILITY:
• Novelty
• Inventive step or non obvious
• Disclosure
• Utility OR usefulness
• Support
ANATOMY OF A PATENT:
• Title and abstract
• Background description
• Statements of invention
• Examples / Figures
• Claims
(2) TRADEMARKS: A Trademark is any word, name, symbol or device that a manufacturer or trader places on his goods to distinguish them from the goods manufactured by others.
It is not a statutory grant of monopoly.
(3)COPYRIGHTS: It is a statutory grant of monopoly for a period of years, generally it is for 27 years. After that the copy righted material falls into the public domain and can be used by anyone.
SIGNIFICANCE: I.P.R. provides the intellectual ability and the innovative ability in an individual and the Indian pharmaceutical industry largely exploited the benefits of expiry of the patents which led to the rapid growth but dampened the scientific progress in Indians.