3.1 Summary of types of IP protection
The information in the following table applies to Australia, but protection types are similar in most other countries. Applications for IP protection are made separately in each desired territory (usually a country), known as a ‘jurisdiction’. Legal rights apply territorially, but international treaties and conventions provide some rights across territories.
| Type | Application Process | Protection Covers | Terms | Legal rights of IP owner/s |
| Secrets | Informal, automatic. Confidentiality Agreements may help | Anything that can be kept secret from the public | Potentially unlimited | None, except that common law protects the IP owner according to any Confidentiality Agreement, and then only with respect to the other parties to the agreement |
| Patents | Apply via IP Australia | Novel and unique features as claimed for an invention | 20 years (25 years for pharma) | Exclusive rights to make or market products or services incorporating the IP |
| Trade marks | Apply via IP Australia | Brand identity such as a letter, words, logos, sound, colours, scents | Initially 10 years, can be renewed indefinitely, if used | Exclusive rights to make or market products or services incorporating the IP |
| Designs | Apply via IP Australia | Novel and distinctive features of appearance, e.g. shape | Initially 5 years, renewable to 10 years maximum total | Exclusive rights to make or market products or services incorporating the IP |
| Plant breeders’ rights | Apply via IP Australia | Varieties of plants that are novel, distinct, uniform and stable | 25 years for trees and grapes, 20 years for other species | Exclusive rights to make or market products or services incorporating the IP |
| Copyright | Automatic legal rights when documented on paper or electronically | Original expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves | Typically, 70 years from the year of the creator’s death | Exclusive rights to license the IP in regards to copying, performing (for copyright), manufacturing (for circuit layouts), disseminating or adapting it. |
| Circuit layouts | Automatic legal rights when documented on paper or electronically | Original layout designs or plans of integrated circuits | 20 years from the year of creating layout or making the integrated circuit | Exclusive rights to license the IP in regards to copying, performing (for copyright), manufacturing (for circuit layouts), disseminating or adapting it. |
