Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) have reached a position from where it plays an important role in the development of the global economy in the last two decades. In the 1990s, unilateral laws and regulations in this area were strengthened by several countries. At the multilateral level, due to the successful conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization, the protection and enforcement of the IPR were raised to the level of serious international commitment.

Intellectual property is a vast area. Design, copyright, and patent trademarks have long been recognized. New forms of protection are also developing, favored by the stimulating emergence of technological and scientific activities.

An intellectual property right is a type of legal right that protects a person's artistic works, literary works, inventions or discoveries, or symbols or designs for a specific period. Owners of intellectual property are granted certain rights under which they can enjoy their property without any disturbance and prevent others from using them, although these rights are also called monopoly exploitation rights, and are limited in terms of geographical range, time, and scope. As a result, intellectual property rights can have a direct and substantial impact on industry and business, as the owner of an IPR can enforce such rights and prevent the manufacture, use, or sale of the product to the public. The protection of intellectual property encourages the publication, distribution, and disclosure of the creation to the public, rather than keeping it a secret, and encourages commercial enterprises to select creative works for exploitation.

Types of Intellectual Property Rights

1. Patent

A patent is used to prevent an invention from being created, sold, or used by another party without authorization. Patents are the most common type of intellectual property rights that come to people’s minds when they think about the protection of intellectual property rights. A Patent Owner has every right to commercialize his/her/its patent, including to buy and sell the patent or to license the invention to a third party under mutually agreed terms.

Trademarks are another well-known familiar type of intellectual property rights protection. A trademark is a distinctive sign that allows consumers to easily identify particular goods or services provided by a company. Some examples include the Golden Arch of McDonald's, the Facebook logo, and so on. A trademark can come in the form of a phrase, text, symbol, sound, smell, or color. Unlike patents, a trademark can protect a set or class of products or services, rather than just one product or process.

3. Copyright

Copyright does not protect ideas. Instead, it includes only “tangible” forms of creations and original work–for example, art, music, architectural drawings, or even software codes. The copyright holder has the exclusive right to sell, publish, and/or reproduce any literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, or architectural work created by the author.

Trade secrets are the secrets of a business. They are proprietary systems, formulas, strategies, or other information that are confidential and not intended for unauthorized commercial use by others. It is an important form of protection that can help businesses to gain a competitive advantage.

With the ongoing development all around it was necessary to protect the rights of the owner of intellectual property since without protecting the innovative work on which a person has spent his time, there would be no promotion of invention and creativity and without such development, it would be impossible to expect the market to develop across a narrow border.

Development can only last if the rights of the producers and those who are sweating over the invention are getting protection for their hard work. Without providing them exclusivity, the market will copy each other and there will be no trace of quality and it will be difficult for sellers as well as buyers in the market to select a quality product.

The challenge with liberalization was bigger than before, there was a need to not only protect the product in the Indian market but also to protect the intellectual property rights in the international market to get exclusivity on the production and distribution of the same.

The same requirement was guaranteed by demonstrating India's commitment to the WTO under the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), the government’s mandate to ensure India's stance on Intellectual Property laws being acceptable on an international level. At every level, the Government of India since joining the WTO has made efforts to make it possible for Indian laws relating to IPR to be recognized globally.

Some of the developments are as follows:

It was initiated by the government of India by replacing the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 with the Trade Marks Act, 1999 to bring the Indian trademarks law in the persistence of international practice and to make sure that India maintains its commitment to the TRIPS agreement.

The following were the changes:

• Service marks for security were first introduced through registration.

• The graphic representation, the combination of shapes and colors was inspired in the definition of the trademark.

An unprecedented step was taken by the Trademark Registry by issuing an order allowing changes that can be made to an application for trademark registration. It included "substantial changes", which would not be allowed, and other changes which may include clerical error/alteration would be accepted by the registrar.

• Interestingly, the period of registration was also increased from 7 years to 10 years.

• Under the new amendments, both registered and unregistered trademarks can be assigned with or without the goodwill of the business.

India has also enacted the Geographic Identification of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999 which provides for the registration and better protection of G.I., relating to products which would facilitate the identification of products associated with a place of production, the quality, quantity, or other distinctive characteristics of these products.

Examples of products that are now uniquely protected under the GIG Act are Basmati rice, Darjeeling tea, Alphonso mango, Malabar pepper, Hyderabadi grapes, etc. which are known for their quality of production and location in the international market. These goods are of such high quality and the place of production is so relevant to them, which made them stand apart from any other product in the market, making such a need for protection necessary for them.

Recently, on March 30, 2021, the Government of India notified the Copyright (Amendment) Rules, amending the Copyright rules 2013. However, the draft of this amendment was made public for opinion in 2019. The bill is similar to the draft in many dimensions. Whose main highlight is 'copyright board' being replaced by 'appellate board'.

Much emphasis has been placed on amendments, which are similar to the draft based on the functioning of the Copyright Society in India. This includes provisions relating to the formation of traceable systems for collection and distribution of royalties, the system of dealing with royalties for works whose authors cannot be traced or identified, and the facility to search from the Copyright Society's databases.

Recent amendments have also been made in the patent laws and the Patent (Amendment) Rules 2020 (Revised Rules 2020) have come into force from 20 October 2020. Before the Revised Rules 2020, patentees and licensees had to submit a statement of commercial working for each year (January to December). Since income statements in India are generally generated for a financial year (from 1 April to 31 March), the Revised Rules 2020 will make it much easier to file the statement of commercial working of a patented invention for every financial year.

The amendments introduce several procedural changes such as replacing the publication of notifications in the Official Gazette with Copyright Journal, and recognition of electronic means of operation. The scope of IPR is constantly expanding and these amendments are necessary to keep up with the pace of development as it requires. Changes are imperative in this area, especially when the world competes. It has become the duty of the state to protect the rights of the inventors and to further promote the welfare of the society, also more of such changes are needed to be done in near future.

Inventors, developers, designers, and authors can protect the ideas they have developed, for example through patents or copyright. The aim is to prevent others from taking unfair advantage of their creations or inventions. It also gives them an opportunity to earn back the money they have invested in developing a product.

If you mostly outsource your work to domestic or global partners, make it a priority to find out if they employ world-class security to secure your IP. Also, you must be sure that remote workers are accessing your IP in the desired manner.

Invest some of your time in making you and your innovative team aware of the important IP rights. In addition, deeply study the relevance of copyrights, trademarks, patents, etc. to protect your business from the last-minute shocks or problems in future. And yes, don’t forget to formulate a strong policy for your IP protection.

Discuss your case with a certified lawyer who specializes in handling such cases and provides standard solutions to clients. Seeking advice from the patent attorney who is not located in your region or country can also save you from having a dent in your pockets.

You must do proper research to ensure that your idea is completely and uniquely yours. To be 100% sure in this regard, conduct trademark and patent searches and find out if someone else is already protecting them.

If you consider patents to be your only valuable asset, you are unfortunately wrong. In addition, you need to hire an auditor to equally focus on your copyrights and trademarks and differentiate between registered and unregistered ones.

To protect your IP from theft or unwanted loss, you must record the progress made at regular intervals. Everything should be maintained, from the concept of your idea, to the number of meetings held, when they were held, to the names of the people who were part of those events. If you retain an exact copy of these events, it will serve as a solid proof to grant you ownership of your product or idea.

It is imperative to protect your IP as a delay of one minute can lead to copying or theft of your precious idea. So, be proactive and file for your intellectual property protection as your competitors will not get a chance to overtake you in any case. Intellectual property is a difficult subject to capture, so it is prudent to contact the best consultants or professionals to protect it.

Ans: Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are about the creations of the mind, they are granted by the respective governments to the creators of IP for new and original ideas. No one can use others’ IPR without their permission and these rights come with limited monopoly and exclusivity.

Ans: There are different types of IPR namely, copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, protection of geographical indications, IC lay-out designs, trade secrets and new plant varieties.

Ans: Yes, IP rights are territorial. This means that an Indian registration is valid only in India. In order to protect Intellectual Property in any other country, one has to seek protection separately under the relevant laws: Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks and Industrial Designs.

Ans: Once accepted, the application is notified in the journal of the patent office and is valid for a period of 10 years from the date of registration. The period can be extended up to 5 years by filing an application for renewal along with the prescribed fee.

Ans: The protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is vital for the economy and for its further development in areas such as research, innovation and employment.

Compliance Calendar LLP assists in discovering the existence of IPR laws for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights to a large extent. It will verify whether the patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets have got its uniqueness and are duly protected. It will ensure that the public or the third party shall not get confused or they should not feel hard to recognise the existing IPR laws. Compliance calendar will help you to easily identify exactly what type of intellectual property you own in securing your Brand/Innovation through IPR Laws.

In the infringement of your Intellectual Property Rights, the Compliance Calendar can help to legally protect the IPR. Compliance Calendar LLP safeguards and protects the intellectual property of the public in general and society at large. The integration of all IP aspects in Brand/Innovation development is a challenge and CCL will support you to master it well. Compliance Calendar LLP identifies together with you the optimal approach to secure your investment and maintain the exclusivity you need for your Brand/Innovation success. If you haver any queries, please email us to info@ccoffice.in or WhatsApp/Call at 9988424211