INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Prof. suvarna lavand

What is intellectual property What Is Intellectual Property?

We’re all familiar with the concept of property. It’s a possession or something you own. It’s easy to think about in terms of physical property like a car or a piece of jewelry, but there is also a class of property for things created by the mind. Things like works of art, music, designs, inventions, and names and images like your company name and logo. These are known as intellectual property, and you have a right to protect them, as well.
 
Intellectual property rights allow you to benefit from the time and effort you put into creating your works, and they prevent you from taking advantage of someone else’s without compensating them for it. This encourages continued creation, invention, and innovation.<br>

IP is the original concepts and ideas conceived of and developed by employees, or workers and advisors under contract to do so, that become corporate assets. This includes things like: 
inventions 
work processes
articles, blog posts, case studies, and other content
books
illustrations 
photos
music
logos
product and business names
taglines 
slogans
movies
games
They are things or ideas you have created that support your business<br>

TYPES OF IP The Four major types of intellectual property are:

Copyrights.
Trademarks.
Patents.
Trade Secrets.<br>

1) COPYRIGHTS Copyrights
Copyrights protect original works of music, literature, and art, including films, books, songs, and even architecture, computer software, and websites.
 
Copyrights are registered by the Library of Congress. They protect the manner in which something is expressed rather than the subject matter. For example, while the lyrics to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” could be copyrighted, that wouldn’t stop anyone else from writing a song about San Francisco. If you copyright a work, you hold the exclusive right to duplicate or change it, and to distribute, display, or perform the work in public.
 
Without doing anything, you have some copyright protection the moment you create something, but your ownership becomes documented when you register the copyright. This gives you a public record and a certificate of registration. You will also have to register if you want to bring a lawsuit against someone for illegally using work you have created.
 
To register, you can apply online through copyright.gov, but first, take a look at the tutorial the electronic copyright office put together to walk you through the process. Copyrights are inexpensive, ranging from $35 to $55. Copyright terms vary, but works created today will generally be protected for the life of the author plus an extra seventy years.<br>

2) TRADEMARK Trademark

A trademark is similar to a patent except, rather than processes and products, it protects words, names, symbols, sounds, and colors that differentiate goods and companies from each other. Service marks do the same for services. Trademarks and service marks are granted for ten-year periods, and they can be renewed forever as long as they’re being used.
 
What can you trademark? The unique name of a product or brand you’ve developed. Think Jell-O and Band-Aid. There are other gelatin desserts and adhesive bandages, but only Jell-O and Band-Aid can call themselves by these names. McDonald’s iconic golden arches are an example of a service mark.<br>

Trademark Trade marking your name, logo, slogans, and designs will help ensure that other businesses don’t use them (or close approximations) to confuse consumers into doing business with them. The more distinctive you can make the trademark, the easier it will be to enforce. Packaging can also be trademarked, which is certainly important to a major brand like Coca-Cola, with its signature green-tinted glass bottle, but it’s just as important for an up and coming entrepreneur who can’t afford to let someone else capitalize on his or her hard work.
 
Similar to patents, you should do a search to make sure no one else is already using the mark you’d like to register. The USPTO has a database you can search electronically before going ahead with your application.<br>

Trademark You can apply for a federal trademark with an electronic form on the USPTO’s website. If it’s granted, there will be public notice that you’ve claimed ownership of the mark, and you’ll get the exclusive right to use it, along with several legal protections. If your application gets approved, you are allowed to use the “®” symbol that designates a registered trademark.
 
Interestingly, you don’t HAVE to register the mark with the government in order to get legal protection; you can establish some rights simply by using it. Experts caution that filing a lawsuit and proving trademark infringement is difficult and costly, though, so they recommend playing it safe and registering it. If you don’t register, you can use the “TM” (trademark) or “SM” (service mark) designation, which signals your claim of a “common-law” mark.<br>

3) patent Patent
A patent is awarded to protect an invention as a piece of intellectual property. An invention could mean a product, a process that offers a new way of doing things, or a new technical solution to a problem. A patent lasts for twenty years and gives you the right to prevent other people from using or copying your idea during that time.
 
Depending on what you’ve invented, there are three different kinds of patents you can apply for: utility, design, or plant. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) describes the various subjects each would cover. Not everything can be patented, but with very few exceptions, all man-made inventions are covered.<br>

patent To get a patent, the first step is to search all previously patented inventions to make sure you’re not applying for something someone else has already invented and patented. There are patent search agencies and attorneys that specialize in this, but if you want to do it on your own, your nearest Patent and Trademark Resource Center will be a big help.
 
If you don’t find a conflicting patent, the next step is to file an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which will determine if your invention is, in fact, eligible. There are very specific guidelines for preparing the application and drawings that must be included, so again, you may want to get professional help with this.
 
The fee to apply is not refundable, and will vary based on what kind of patent you’re applying for and how large your business is. If a patent is granted, you will also have to pay to maintain it.<br>

4) TRADE SECRET Trade Secrets
While not strictly intellectual property, your business may have other intangible assets that should also be protected. Ideas and concepts cannot be copyrighted, although you can get some protection for them through the trade secret law or confidentiality agreements that would prohibit someone from using or disclosing an idea they agreed to keep secret.
 
These could include customer and vendor lists, along with pricing and manufacturing information. To keep these trade secrets in house, you may want to consider having employees and companies you’re dealing with sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements. Entrepreneur magazine has free templates you can download<br>

Indian Fashion Industry and the Intellectual  Property Regime or ruling system of Goverment The Intellectual property regime in India provides for protection under Design Act 2000 , the Copyright Act , 1957 and the Geographical Indications of Goods ( Registration & prohibition) Act , 1999.Although there seems to be three distinct legislation , that protect three distinct characteristic in the process & lifetime of the fashion apparel or the accessory<br>

The artistic work in the sketches of the designs ( as soon as they are reduced to a material tangible medium ) is protected under the Copyright Act 1957 . The Designs Act 2000 is so drafted to permit protection of non functional aspects of an object , having visual appeal , such that design that include the features of shape configuration , pattern , ornament or composition of lines or colors applied to nay two dimensional or three dimensional or on both forms<br>

Noting India’s diversity in traditional knowledge and other indigenous art forms , the current regime also affords protection through the GI Act 1999 . 15 kinds of GIs have been registered in respect of textiles . In addition to the law of designs. It is also pertinent to note that the Kasuti Embriodery form Karnatka, Kutch Embroidery form Gujarat & Sujini embroidery works form Bihar have all been granted GIs.<br>

The Indian designers have heavily relied on ancient traditional and indigenous designs to create garments. A substantial number of designers rely on indigenous and traditional crafts , dyeing , block printing , and embroidery techniques to cerate new designs and structures

.Indigenous methods such as phulkari , kantha , chikan kari & other forms of embriodery & cutting have been used to create apparel designs and revive ancient art forms .Indian designers have understood the needs of the international market & are working accordingly. With the clever use of embellishments , indigenous techniques and craft – the Indianness intact – they are cretaing modern otufits which are receiving global response.<br>

How Protection For A Fashion Design Can be Improved

Fashion design protection is not intended to protect trends, but to protect the appearance of an article of apparel. .Particularly problematic is that every design traces back to a pre existing design or trend. Fashion is a visual medium like sculpture or painting. And it has its own system of recordation of elements. Words are used to describe labels. A color system to describe shades of colors.<br>

One important difference between copyright protection and fashion design protection is the length of protection and the life of the creation. If a designer brings an action for infringement of a registered design, it may take several months to pull together a court and jury to decide whether something is actually an infringement.
By the time a court reaches a final infringement decision, the design may be obsolete and any preliminary injunction or intermediate action taken by the court may have hurt the party who was lawfully entitled to use and license the registered design.<br>

Large number of apparel houses that the revenue model consists of obtaining huge returns by licensing the trademark to smaller production houses. This trend creates different markets under the same logo by creating different clothing lines. For instance , designer Armani operates about 3 diffrent lines offering similar designs with a difference in queslity depending upon the price , that are identified by different logos Armani exchange. , Emporio Armani , & Giorgio Armani , each catering to different clientele differntitated by the ablity to purchase.
This trend of cretaing diffrent lines makes the logo and brand vaialble to the not so elite category for a cut above the leser known brands, thereby limiting act of piracy and acts of refernecing.<br>

Indian Fashion Industry and the Intellectual Property Regime rule of government
The Intellectual property regime in India provides for protection under Design Act 2000 , the Copyright Act , 1957 and the Geographical Indications of Goods ( Registration & prohibition) Act , 1999.Although there seems to be three distinct legislation , that protect three distinct characteristic in the process & lifetime of the fashion apparel or the accessory<br>

The artistic work in the sketches of the designs ( as soon as they are reduced to a material tangible medium ) is protected under the Copyright Act 1957 . The Designs Act 2000 is so drafted to permit protection of non functional aspects of an object , having visual appeal , such that design that include the features of shape configuration , pattern , ornament or composition of lines or colors
applied to nay two dimensional or three dimensional or on both forms. The third schedule to the Design Rules 2001 provides an exhaustive list of products & articles in respect of which an application may be made to the controller. Such a design right reamins in force for a period of ten years , extendable subject to conditions for a total of period of 15 years.<br>

Noting India’s diversity in traditional knowledge and other indigenous art forms , the current regime also affords protection through the GI Act 1999 . 15 kinds of GIs have been registered in respect of textiles . In addition to the law of designs. It is also pertinent to note that the Kasuti Embriodery form Karnatka, Kutch Embroidery form Gujarat & Sujini embroidery works form Bihar have all been granted GIs.<br>

The Indian designers have heavily relied on ancient traditional and indigenous designs to create garments. A substantial number of designers rely on indigenous and traditional crafts , dyeing , block printing , and embroidery techniques to cerate new designs and structures .Indigenous methods such as phulkari , kantha , chikan kari & other forms of embriodery & cutting have been used to create apparel designs and revive ancient art forms
.Indian designers have understood the needs of the international market & are working accordingly. With the clever use of embellishments , indigenous techniques and craft – the Indianness intact – they are cretaing modern otufits which are receiving global response.<br>