Intellectual property laws protect owners of copyrighted, trademarked, and patented works. Owners have exclusive rights to use and control their work, and can take steps to protect it. Trademark owners must prove infringement, while patent holders are protected from copying and can exclude others from using their claims.
Copyright, trademark, and patent laws provide intellectual property rights protection to intellectual property owners. Some rights accrue to the owner when the person creates the work or acquires a commission from the original author of the work, according to the common law. Individuals who register their intellectual property rights often enjoy even greater protection than that provided by the common law. These include protection against others from infringing a created work or patent, and protection against others from selling a product in violation of patent or trademark ownership. There are many steps individuals can take to protect their intellectual property, including providing copyright and trademark notices and renewing rights before they expire.
The owner of a copyrighted work is the only person who has the exclusive rights to use and control how the work is used. Those rights are protected by law, and if someone violates those rights, that person is often liable for damages under copyright laws. The person is often ordered by the court to stop using the work and turn over the materials to the copyright owner. Some types of works qualify for IPR protection, while others do not. The work must be fixed in a tangible medium, and it is the expression and not the idea that is often subject to copyright.
Trademark protection is another form of intellectual property rights protection where the right to use a trademark belongs exclusively to the trademark owner. For example, a business owner who has registered a logo and trade name is protected by trademark laws from others using the same or similar logo and trade name. The proprietor must prove that he actively uses the mark, that the public is confused by the use of a similar mark in the same geographic area or market, and that the mark has been infringed by the defendant. Trademark registration is not necessary to obtain protection under the law, but it is easier to contest cases in which the owner registers a commercial or service mark. Trademark laws often allow a plaintiff to seek trademark infringement damages if the plaintiff can show that the defendant’s use of the trademark in violation of intellectual property laws was intentional.
Intellectual property rights protection extends to patents, and many problems arise when a patent holder shares his inventions with others in business dealings. For example, an inventor might schedule a meeting with the R&D wing of a large corporation to showcase his prototype and convince the company to license the invention. Patent laws protect the inventor from the company that copies his invention, both under direct patent infringement laws and the doctrine of equivalents. Patent protection also includes the right to exclude others from using one or more of your submitted patent claims to obtain the owner’s patent for your process or product.
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