Тема 14. What is a intellectual property

Intellectual property, often known as IP, is a fast-moving and sometimes complex area of law. It covers a wide range of diverse issues and allows people to won their creativity and innovation in the same way they can own physical property. In other words, under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets and IP can be bought and sold like other forms of pioperty.

IP typically includes two branches, namely copyright and industrial property (patent law, trademarks, and industrial designs).

- copyright applies to original creators in the literary, dramatic, musical and artistic

fields, sound recordings and broadcasts, including software and multimedia;

- patents grant an inventor the right to exclude others from producing or using the

inventor's discovery for a limited period of time.

- trade marks are generally names, logos or drawings used to indicate the identity of a business. Tiademark status may also be granted to distinctive and unique packaging, colour combinations, building designs, and overall presentations. Service-marks also receive legal protection but meant to but are meant to distinguish services rather than products;

- industial designs protect elements of product appearance (that is, shape or

pattern, not function) resulting from the features of the lines, colours, shape, texture of the product itself or its ornamentation.

Each of the areas is governed by statutes which set out conditions for creation, the process of registration, rights of the registered owner, remedies for infringement and rights of the public to use the property.