Intellectuall property and intellectual property

law defined
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are
recognized. For each set of exclusive rights there is a corresponding field of law
intellectual property law.
Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of
intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and
inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
Common types of intellectual property rights and respective laws include:

Copyrights Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act,

Trademarks Trade and Service Marks Act,

Patents Patents Registration Act,

design rights and

Trade secrets.

Copyright defined

the sole legal right to print, publish, perform, film or record a

literary or artistic or musical work

A copyright is an intangible right granted by law to an author or originator of certain literary or

artistic productions. The author or originator is granted, for a limited period, the exclusive privilege
to make copies of the same for publication and sale. Such exclusive right may also be transferred to
another person.

A copyright is a legal device that gives the creator of a literary, artistic, musical, or other creative
work the sole right to publish and sell that work.

Copyright owners have the right to control the reproduction of their work, including the right to
receive payment for that reproduction. Authors of original literary and artistic works shall be
entitled to copyright protection for their works under the Copyright law, by the sole fact of the
creation of such works

An author may grant or sell those rights to others, including publishers or recording companies.
Violation of a copyright is called an infringement.

Copyright is distinct from other forms of creator protection such as patents, which give inventors
exclusive rights over use of their inventions, and trademarks, which are legally protected words or
symbols or certain other distinguishing features that represent products or services. Similarly,
whereas a patent protects the application of an idea, and a trademark protects a device that indicates
the provider of particular services or goods, copyright protects the expression of an idea. Whereas
the operative notion in patents is novelty, so that a patent represents some invention that is new and
has never been made before, the basic concept behind copyright is originality, so that a copyright
represents something that has originated from a particular author and not from another.
Copyrights, patents, and trademarks are all examples of what
is known in the law as intellectual property.
Trademark or service
mark defined
A trademark or service-mark is

A distinctive name, symbol, motto, or design that legally identifies a company or its products
and services, and usually prevents others from using identical or similar marks.

symbol, word, phrase, logo, or combination of these that legally distinguishes one company's
product from any others. Any infringement on a trademark is illegal and therefore grounds for
the company owning the trademark to sue the infringing party.
According to the Trade and Service Marks Act, Cap. .."trade or service mark" means any
visible sign used or proposed to be used upon, in connection with or in relation to goods or
services for the purpose of distinguishing in the course of trade or business the goods or services
of a person from those of another;
Coca cola and Pepsi cola each has a trade mark.

A trade mark is a sign that you can use to distinguish your business goods or services
from those of other traders.

A trade mark can be represented graphically in the form of your companys logo or a
signature.

Through a registered trade mark, you can protect your brand (or mark) by restricting
other people from using its name or logo.

Once acquired, a trade mark can last indefinitely as long as you renew it every 10 years.
Because a registered trade mark is a form of IP, you can license or assign it to others.

Trade mark symbols

If you successfully register a trade mark, you are permitted to use the symbol next to
your mark. Another common symbol associated with trade mark is this denotes that

the mark is being used by the company as their trade mark but it does not mean that the
mark is registered or protected under the trade mark law.

What is a patent?
A patent is a right granted to the owner of an invention that prevents others from making,
using, importing or selling the invention without his permission.
A patentable invention can be a product or a process that gives a new technical solution to a
problem. It can also be a new method of doing things, the composition of a new product, or a
technical improvement on how certain objects work.
Once it is granted, its term of a patent is 20 years from the Date of Filing, subject to the
payment of annual renewal fees.
The benefits of registering a patent
Once you register a patent, apart from using the patent to prevent others from exploiting your
invention, you can employ it to raise funds for your business, license it to third parties for
commercial returns or sell the patented invention.

Trade secret defined

Trade secrets are information that companies keep secret to give them an advantage over their
competitors. The formula for Coca-Cola is the most famous trade secret. Trade secrets are not
protected by intellectual property law the same way that trademarks or patents are. Protection for
trade secrets is done by non-disclosure, the information must be kept confidential.

Companies often use non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to keep their trade secrets safe.
Employees often have to sign a non-disclosure agreement as part of their employment
commitments.

Legal framework for

protection of intellectual
property

Copyright is protected under the Copyright and

Neighbouring Rights Act

Patents are protected under the Patents Act

Trade and service marks are protected under the Trade and Service Marks Act

Industrial design No specific

Trade secrets contract law