Patents Patents are one of the most important types of IPR. It is defined as “A government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention.” When individuals or organizations invent or come up with a new way of doing something, they approach the patent office, give them details about the product or process, and get protection for their `property for a fee. This is justified because these individuals invest years and extensive resources developing something, and would like to be compensated for their efforts. Patents act as an incentive for inventing new products and processes and form an integral part of a culture of innovation and growth. Patent protection is given only for a limited period, say 10 or 20 years. Trademarks Among the different types of intellectual property rights, the trademark holds an important position as a unique identifier of a company or a product. It is representative of a brand/company’s standing to consumers– an assurance of a certain standard and quality. Intellectual property protection is vital for trademarks because companies invest a lot of time and money to develop brands. The last thing they want is some imposter selling products or services using their trademarks, deceiving consumers and leading to loss of money and reputation. Trademarks can include names, logos and designs used in packaging or the products themselves. Copyright You may come across the phrase `All Rights Reserved’ while watching a movie, buying a book or a DVD. This is just a way of protecting the contents of the movie, book or DVD, indicating that the copyright is held by the publisher, and no one can copy or use the material in any form without their consent. Copyright is granted to an original work – whether it’s a movie, book, music, computer software or a painting. There are two aspects to copyright – moral and economic. Moral rights give authors the power to be identified as authors of a particular work and to object if it is presented in a distorted or mutilated form. The economic right is more tangible and gives the author to control the use of his or her creation and reap economic rewards from it. Industrial Design Industrial design is a production technique of a certain product or article. For example, a furniture company could come up with a new way of making a sofa-cum-bed and may want to protect it from being copied by someone else. In many countries, the industrial design must be registered to get protection under industrial design law. In other countries, patents may as well do the trick. Geographical Indication Certain products are tied to a certain geographical location, and producers may want intellectual property protection to ensure that products from other areas do not misuse this indicator. For instance, Basmati rice has been registered under the Department of Commerce in India as a product with a Geographical Indication. This tag is given only to this variety of rice grown in seven states in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Intellectual property protection is critical to fostering innovation. Without protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not reap the full benefits of their inventions and would focus less on research and development. Similarly, artists would not be fully compensated for their creations and cultural vitality would suffer as a result.

Intellectual Property rights provide protection for creations and inventions, to enable creators and inventors to earn recognition and financial benefit from their work. recordings, movies, books, articles, diagrams, photos, website content and software applications.