CHAPTER 4
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
4.1 Definition of Intellectual Property
4.2 Types of Intellectual Property
After this chapter, the students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate understanding of the intellectual property; and
2. Distinguish the various types of intellectual property; and,
3. Determine the importance of intellectual property.
4.1. What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary
and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP which
includes patents, copyright, trademarks, trade secrets and industrial design is protected in
by law to earn recognition or financial benefit from them. By achieving the right balance
between the interests of the creators and wider public interest, the IP system intends to
promote an environment in which creativity and innovation can prosper (Juaneza and
Pomperada, 2019).
4.2. Types of Intellectual Property
Below are the types of intellectual property.
1. Copyright
2. Patents
3. Trade Secrets
4. Trademarks
5. Industrial Designs
Copyright
Copyright or author’s right is a legal term used to describe the right that creators
have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright include books,
music, paintings, sculptures, films, computer programs, databases, advertisements,
maps and technical drawings.
Form of material expression is the coverage of copyright law, not the actual
concepts, ideas, techniques or facts in a particular work. To receive a copyright
protection, one’s work must be fixed in a tangible form like stories written on paper
and original paintings on canvas.
What the rights of a copyright owner?
The time, effort and creativity of the creator is primarily the goal of a Copyright
Law to protect. It gives the owner the exclusive rights, including the right to
• Reproduce the work
• Prepare “derivative works” (these are works based on the original work)
• Distribute copies of the work by way of sale, lease, or other mode of transfer
of ownership
• Perform the work in public
• Display the work in public
Patents
The exclusive right granted for an invention is called patent. The invention
is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new
technical solution to an existing problem. In a patent application, the technical
information about the invention must be disclosed in order to receive the patent.
Three types of patents:
1. Utility patents are granted to a new and useful process, article of
manufacture, machine, or a composition of matter.
2. Design patents include an original, new, and ornamental design for a
manufactured product.
3. Plant patents are awarded to anyone who produced, discovered and
invented a new kind of plant capable of reproduction.
In order for a creation to be patentable, it must be a novelty, it has an inventive
step, and has an industrial applicability. These are the basic requirements of a patent.
The list of issued patents by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines are found
in their website [Link] including the application process.
The 323 Apple patents that list Steven P. Jobs among the group of inventors—
from the company’s iconic computer cases to the glass staircases that are featured in
many Apple stores.
1
Source:
[Link]
[Link]
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets are intellectual property (IP) rights on confidential information
which includes a practice or a process of a company that is not generally known by the
public but may be sold or licensed. It is often a product of an internal research and
development. It gives the company an economic advantage over its competitors.
In general, to qualify as a trade secret, the information must be:
• commercially valuable because it is secret and actively protected
• be known only to a limited group of persons because they are not public
information, and
• be subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information
to keep it secret, including the use of confidentiality agreements for business
partners and employees. This provides an economic benefit to the holders.
When the acquisition, use or disclosure of such secret information is not authorized
and such is contrary to honest commercial practices, it is regarded as an unfair practice
and a violation of the trade secret protection as stipulated in the intellectual property
law.
Trademarks
A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one
enterprise from those of other enterprises. A trademark or service mark prevents another
person or entity from offering a similar product or service similar to your own. It is a
corporate symbol that contributes to the image the company is trying to build.
Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights (World Intellectual Property
Organization, WIPO).
Trademark is a sign of quality and excellence that identifies company’s
excellence. Like the logo, it is a combination of color , typestyle and shape or it can be
just a shape and color.
2
The following are the four types of trademarks:
• Trademark is used to identify products.
Examples of original trademarks
Examples of trademark infringement
3
• Service mark is used to promote a service.
• Collective mark indicates commercial origin of goods or services in a member
of a group rather than the origin in one party.
• Certification mark is a form of trademark used to identify goods and/or
services that meet certain standards or specifications set by an impartial third-
party regulatory group. These standards of specifications include quality,
accuracy, place of origin, raw materials, mode of manufacture of goods or
performance of services, other specified properties.
Examples of certification marks:
4
Industrial Designs
In a legal sense, an industrial design constitutes the ornamental aspect of an
article. According to WIPO, an industrial design may consist of three-dimensional
features, such as the shape of an article, or two-dimensional features, such as patterns,
lines or color.
Registration of industrial design grants the owner, usually for a limited period
of time, the exclusive right to use the design and to authorize others to use it. It also
includes the right to make, offer, put on the market, import, export, or use a product in
which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied , or to stock such a product
for those purpose.
Example of industrial design
5
REFERENCES
1. Juaneza, J. P., et al. (2019). Introduction to Technopreneurship, Unlimited
Books Library Services & Publishing Inc., Philippines.
2. Sison, L. G.(2018). Tech to Go, Philippines.
3. Modules of Dr. Jonathan W.L. Salvacion