2.2 What is IP protection?

2.2 What is IP Protection?

IP protection limits copying or other unfair use of the IPIntellectual property (IP): An innovation or invention – a novel creation from a single mind or a collaboration – that may be protected via a trade secret, copyright, or a legal registration. by competitors. There are three main categories of protection:

• Trade secretsTrade secret: IP that is kept secret from the public long-term, as a deliberate IP protection mechanism.
• legal registrations (patentsPatent: A type of legally registered IP protection applicable only to inventions, which provides exclusive rights to exploit the IP commercially in the jurisdiction of the registration., trade marksTrade mark: A type of IP that distinguishes its owner’s goods and services from those of another business, e.g. a letter, number, word, phrase, sound, smell, shape, logo, picture, movement, aspect of packaging, or a combination of these. A trade mark can be protected through legal registration., designsDesign: A type of legally registered IP protection applicable to the novel and distinctive features of a product’s shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation, which give a product a unique visual appearance. The owner of a registered design has exclusive rights to use, license or sell it., plant breeders rightsPlant breeder’s rights: A type of legally registered IP protection applicable to novel varieties of plants that are distinct, uniform and stable. Registration provides exclusive rights to use, license or sell the plant variety.)
• automatic legal protection (copyrightCopyright: An automatic legal IP protection applicable to the novel expression of ideas and information; best suited to artistic creations, using that term broadly., circuit layoutCircuit layout: The three-dimensional location of active and passive elements and interconnections making up an integrated circuit.)

The types of IP protection within these categories will be explored later in this training. A single item of IP can have multiple protections of various types.

Except in the case of some trade secrets, the owners of protected IP hold legal rights in recognition of the investment they made in developing their IP. These rights give IP owners competitive advantages that reduce the risks of commercialisation, encouraging development of innovations Innovation: a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value..

Registering a business name, company name or domain name does not provide the rights available under IP protection. In particular, such name registrations do not provide rights to use those names as trade marks.

The concept of protection is so strongly linked to the concept of IP that people often refer to a means of protection (such as a patent) as being the IP, whereas the actual IP is the innovation that the patent protects.

Quick quiz – Q2: Artists or lawyers rarely create IP because their innovations are usually not technological. True or false?