Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are specific legal rights which protect the owners of IP.
Adequate and effective protection of industrial property rights is essential for ensuring the technological, industrial and commercial development of a country. No nation can achieve an adequate level of economic and technological growth without a strong patents system, without effective protection of its commercial trademarks and trade names and without promoting creativity by protecting designs and other elements. The establishment of a rigorous industrial property system is a powerful tool for economic growth. This system should be set in a legislative framework for acquiring and maintaining these industrial property rights which is modern and efficient.
Nevertheless, registering industrial property rights is worthless if their protection and respect is not effectively ensured. The credibility of an industrial property system lies precisely in the application and effective respect for the rights granted under the system.
Legislative measures are essential in order to achieve the abovementioned objectives, not only from the point of view of sector regulations but also from all legislative spheres, through which proper protection for these types of rights can be obtained. Similarly, the involvement of public institutions and private organizations is vital for achieving these objectives.
According to the Spanish IP law, when granted, an intellectual property right (IPR) will give you the right to prevent others from using your property without your consent. This can give you a monopoly in the market, lasting different periods of time, depending of the type of IPR issued. This protection gives value to your invention, and will increase the technology transfer opportunities available to you.
The state grants such protection in order to provide incentives to investors to develop technologies, products and ideas in order to bring them to market. This ultimately benefits the consumer.
In the extreme case of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, where regulatory bodies require a substantial testing and development regime and investors may spend many millions before a product reaches the market, it is important that this protection exists otherwise very few companies would go to the efforts required.
IPR can be subdivided into the following major categories:
- Patent
A legal monopoly lasting 20 years granted in exchange for describing an invention and paying fees to the Patent Office. A patent position is destroyed by public disclosure of the idea before a patent application is filed (except for a short grace period in the US and Japan).
- Copyright
Applies to literary and dramatic works, artistic and musical works, audio and video recordings, broadcasts and cable transmissions. Copyright is also the usual way of protecting software, although some software may be patented if it is a functional part of an invention. Copyright arises automatically; it does not need to be applied for (but can be for register purposes); and lasts 70 years after the death of the author.
- Database right
Applies to databases which are not protected by copyright (an EU right only).
- Design right
Applies to aspects of the shape or configuration of an article. Unregistered design right (which covers computer chips, for example) can protect internal or external features. In the case of registered designs, the features must appeal to and be judged by the eye.
- Trade mark
A mark (logo) or other distinctive sign applied to or associated with products or services, which does not describe the products or services.
- Confidential know how
Information that you possess, but is not generally known in your industry, is termed “know-how” “confidential information” or “trade secrets”. It is the information that distinguishes your expertise from those of your competitors or colleagues.
Examples can include:
- particular testing methodologies
- recipes
- manufacturing techniques
- chemical formulations
- experimental conditions
- production methods
Know-how and trade secrets are protected by keeping this information confidential. This means that the information is not made public and prior to any disclosure, confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement must be signed by the person who is to receive the information from you.
