International-Business-Dr-R-Chandran-E-book

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International Business- Dr. R. Chandran
The term Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is often shortened further to
Intellectual Property (IP). Intellectual property is a series of legal rights that
afford, in most cases temporary protection for different types of inventions,
designs, brand names or original creations. The legal rights given are the
rights to prevent unauthorized use of the invention, design, brand name or
creation for the period of protection. The right given can be an absolute
monopoly right or simply a right to prevent reproduction.
The legal rights in intellectual property can be transferred between
parties, licensed to other parties and can even mortgage or used as security.
IP only comes into existence after an application has been made and/or
registration has been obtained. Alternatively, it may come into existence
automatically upon creation of an original design or other work or upon the
creation of a reputed brand name, with most forms of intellectual property,
the temporary protection afford expires after a finite term. However, this is
not true for all forms protection, some of which can last forever. The various
forms of intellectual property are given briefly below.
Components of IPR in current context
Patents: New and inventive technical innovations can enjoy an absolute
monopoly for twenty years.
Supplementary Protection Certificate: This is an extension of up to five
years on the absolute monopoly given by a patent, where the invention
consists of a medicinal product for which approval by the relevant authority
has yet to be given.
Trademarks: The owner of a trademark has an absolute monopoly for ten
years. The legal protection of any brand name has the title of trademark and
it is shown on any product as TM.
Designs: This is an absolute monopoly for twenty-five years, given for a
new design of a manufactured article.
Unregistered Design Right: This prevents reproduction of an original
design, which lasts for a maximum of fifteen years.
Copyright: Copyright prevents reproduction of an original literary, artistic,
musical or dramatic work. It is valid for a period of seventy years after the
death of the author.
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