Tangible assets like a shop, jewellery, money, investments, car etc are not the only kinds of property that one can own and claim protection under the law. There are other types of property too which are provided for by law and safeguarded within the legal framework and these are termed intellectual property, which can be secured against exploitation by others. The three primary kinds of intellectual property rights are patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Copyrights are intellectual property dealing with rights of the creator over his or her original creation. Copyright safeguards all types of artistic expressions including music, films, videos, designs etc besides original literature. It bestows the owners with a number of rights including economic and moral rights in addition to the right of being known as the owner of the work.
Trademarks afford intellectual property privileges which aim at pre-empting duplication and violation of symbols registered by someone for his own products, and they help a consumer easily identify the source of a product. Trademark protection gives the owner complete protection from unscrupulous use of his own symbol by others to mislead customers.
The final intellectual property right is a patent, which is bestowed upon inventors to safeguard their unique and beneficial creations and inventions. Patents are valid for a predetermined span within which the holder can enforce his exclusive right to sale and other commercial use of his invention.
There are some other intellectual property rights too which are less often enforced and used. Some examples of other kinds are traditional understanding cultivated by inhabitants of a particular region that is unique only to that area; confidential information that include company secrets, for example, KFC’s recipe; and positional indicators that are a variant of trademarks used for merchandise originating from a particular part of the world, for instance Champagne.
Though these types of intellectual property are distinct from each other there are some similarities between the three. All of these are safeguarded within the provisions of the law and the rightful holders can take legal action in a court of law and claim compensation in case of any infringement.
Discover more about Trademark Registration Singapore and discover how does an Intellectual Property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.