RM4151 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND IPR

N.Vinodh, Department of Management Studies

UNIT IV
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Intellectual Property – The concept of IPR, Evolution and development of concept of IPR, IPR development
process, Trade secrets, utility Models, IPR & Bio diversity, Role of WIPO and WTO in IPR establishments, Right
of Property, Common rules of IPR practices, Types and Features of IPR Agreement, Trademark, Functions of
UNESCO in IPR maintenance.

Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property (IP) deals with any basic construction of human intelligence such as artistic, literary,
technical or scientific constructions. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) refers to the legal rights granted to the
inventor or manufacturer to protect their invention or manufacture product. These legal rights confer an
exclusive right on the inventor/manufacturer or its operator who makes full use of it’s his invention/product
for a limited period of time.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The intellectual property right is a kind of legal right that protects a person’s artistic works, literary works,
inventions or discoveries or a symbol or design for a specific period of time. Intellectual property owners are
given certain rights by which they can enjoy their Property without any disturbances and prevent others
from using them, although these rights are also called monopoly rights of exploitation, they are limited in
geographical range, time and scope.

Nature of intellectual Property

Intangible Rights over Tangible Property: The main Property that distinguishes IP from other forms
of Property is its intangibility. While there are many important differences between different
forms of IP, one factor they share is that they establish property protection over intangible things
such as ideas, inventions, signs and information whereas intangible assets and close relationships
are a tangible object. In which they are embedded. It allows creators or owners to benefit from
their works when they are used commercially.
Right to sue: In the language of the law, IP is an asset that can be owned and dealt with. Most forms of
IP are contested in rights of action that are enforced only by legal action and by those who have
rights. IP is a property right and can, therefore, be inherited, bought, gifted, sold, licensed,
entrusted or pledged. The holder of an IPR owner has a type of Property that he can use the way
he likes subject to certain conditions and takes legal action against the person who without his
consent used his invention and can receive compensation against real Property.
Rights and Duties: IP gives rise not only to property rights but also duties. The owner of the IP has
the right to perform certain functions in relation to his work/product. He has the exclusive right
to produce the work, make copies of the work, market work, etc. There is also a negative right to
prevent third parties from exercising their statutory rights.
Coexistence of different rights: Different types of IPRs can co-exist in relation to a particular function.
For example, an invention may be patented, and the invention photograph may be copyrighted. A
design can be protected under the Design Act, and the design can also be incorporated into a
 trademark. There are many similarities and differences between the various rights that can exist
together in IP. For example, there are common grounds between patent and industrial design;
Copyright and neighboring rights, trademarks and geographical indications, and so on. Some
intellectual property rights are positive rights; the rest of them are negative rights.
Exhaustion of rights: Intellectual property rights are generally subject to the doctrine of exhaustion.
Exhaustion basically means that after the first sale by the right holder or by its exhaustion
authority, his right ceases and he is not entitled to stop further movement of the goods. Thus, once
an IP rights holder has sold a physical product to which IPRs are attached, it cannot prevent
subsequent resale of that product. The right terminates with the first consent. This principle is
based on the concept of free movement of goods which is in force by consent or right of the rights
holder. The exclusive right to sell goods cannot be exercised twice in relation to the same goods.
The right to restrict further movements has expired as the right holder has already earned his
share by the act of placing goods for the first sale in the market.
Dynamism: IPR is in the process of continuous development. As technology is rapidly evolving in all
areas of human activities, the field of IP is also growing. As per the requirement of scientific and
technological progress, new items are being added to the scope of IPR, and the scope of its
preservation is being expanded. Bio Patents, Software Copyrights, Plant Diversity Protection,
these are few names which reflect contemporary developments in the field of IPR. The importance
of intellectual property and its mobility is well established and reflected at all levels, including
statutory, administrative and judicial.

Scope of intellectual Property

The scope of IP rights is broad; two classification modes are used to determine whether IP is copyright or
Industrial Property. Industrial properties include patents or inventions, trademarks, trade names,
biodiversity, plant breeding rights and other commercial interests. A patent gives its holder the exclusive
right to use the Intellectual Property for the purposes of making money from the invention.
An invention is itself a new creation, process, machine or manufacture. Having copyright does not give you
the exclusive right to an idea, but it protects the expression of ideas that are different from a patent. Copyright
covers many fields, from art and literature to scientific works and software.
Even music and audio-visual works are covered by copyright laws. The duration of copyright protection
exists 60 years after the death of the creator. In other words, an author’s book is copyrighted for his entire life
and then 60 years after his death. Unlike patent laws, there is no requirement of the administrative process in
copyright laws.

Why promote and protect Intellectual Property?

There are several reasons for promoting and protecting intellectual property. Some of them are:
1. Progress and the good of humanity remain in the ability to create and invent new works in the
field of technology and culture.
2. IP protection encourages publication, distribution, and disclosure of the creation to the public,
rather than keeping it a secret.
3. Promotion and protection of intellectual Property promote economic development, generates
new jobs and industries, and improves the quality of life.
Intellectual Property helps in balancing between the innovator’s interests and public interest, provide an
environment where innovation, creativity and invention can flourish and benefit all.

Kinds of intellectual Property

The subject of intellectual property is very broad. There are many different forms of rights that together make
up intellectual property. IP can be basically divided into two categories, that is, industrial Property and
intellectual property. Traditionally, many IPRs were collectively known as industrial assets.
It mainly consisted of patents, trademarks, and designs. Now, the protection of industrial property extends to
utility models, service marks, trade names, passes, signs of source or origin, including geographical
indications, and the suppression of unfair competition. It can be said that the term ‘industrial property” is the
predecessor of ‘intellectual property”.

Copyright
Copyright law deals with the protection and exploitation of the expression of ideas in a tangible form.
Copyright has evolved over many centuries with respect to changing ideas about creativity and new means of
communication and media. In the modern world, the law of copyright provides not only a legal framework for
the protection of the traditional beneficiaries of copyright, the individual writer, composer or artist, but also
the publication required for the creation of work by major cultural industries, film; Broadcast and recording
industry; And computer and software industries.

It resides in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works in ”original’ cinematic films, and in sound
recordings set in a concrete medium. To be protected as the copyright, the idea must be expressed in original
form. Copyright acknowledges both the economic and moral rights of the owner. The right to copyright is, by
the principle of fair use, a privilege for others, without the copyright owner’s permission to use copyrighted
material. By the application of the doctrine of fair use, the law of copyright balances private and public
interests.

Patent
Patent law recognizes the exclusive right of a patent holder to derive commercial benefits from his invention.
A patent is a special right granted to the owner of an invention to the manufacture, use, and markets the
invention, provided that the invention meets certain conditions laid down in law. Exclusive right means that
no person can manufacture, use, or market an invention without the consent of the patent holder. This
exclusive right to patent is for a limited time only.

To qualify for patent protection, an invention must fall within the scope of the patentable subject and satisfy
the three statutory requirements of innovation, inventive step, and industrial application. As long as the
patent applicant is the first to invent the claimed invention, the novelty and necessity are by and large
satisfied. Novelty can be inferred by prior publication or prior use. Mere discovery ‘can’t be considered as an
invention. Patents are not allowed for any idea or principle.

The purpose of patent law is to encourage scientific research, new technology, and industrial progress. The
economic value of patent information is that it provides technical information to the industry that can be used
for commercial purposes. If there is no protection, then there may be enough incentive to take a free ride at
another person’s investment. This ability of free-riding reduces the incentive to invent something new
because the inventor may not feel motivated to invent due to lack of incentives.

Trademark
A trademark is a badge of origin. It is a specific sign used to make the source of goods and services public in
relation to goods and services and to distinguish goods and services from other entities. This establishes a
link between the proprietor and the product. It portrays the nature and quality of a product. The essential
function of a trademark is to indicate the origin of the goods to which it is attached or in relation to which it is
used. It identifies the product, guarantees quality and helps advertise the product. The trademark is also the
objective symbol of goodwill that a business has created.

Any sign or any combination thereof, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of another undertaking,
is capable of creating a trademark. It can be a combination of a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design,
image, shape, color, personal name, letter, number, figurative element and color, as well as any combination
representing a graph. Trademark registration may be indefinitely renewable.
Geographical indication

It is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a geographic location or origin of the
product, the use of geographical location may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities
as per the traditional method. Darjeeling tea and basmati rice are a common example of geographical
indication. The relationship between objects and place becomes so well known that any reference to that
place is reminiscent of goods originating there and vice versa.

It performs three functions. First, they identify the goods as origin of a particular region or that region or
locality; Secondly, they suggest to consumers that goods come from a region where a given quality,
reputation, or other characteristics of the goods are essentially attributed to their geographic origin, and
third, they promote the goods of producers of a particular region. They suggest the consumer that the goods
come from this area where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of goods are essentially
attributable to the geographic region.

It is necessary that the product obtains its qualities and reputation from that place. Since those properties
depend on the geographic location of production, a specific link exists between the products and the place of
origin. Geographical Indications are protected under the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and
Protection) Act, 1999.

Industrial design
It is one of the forms of IPR that protects the visual design of the object which is not purely utilized. It consists
of the creation of features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornamentation or composition of lines or colours
applied to any article in two or three-dimensional form or combination of one or more features. Design
protection deals with the outer appearance of an article, including decoration, lines, colours, shape, texture
and materials. It may consist of three-dimensional features such as colours, shapes and shape of an article or
two-dimensional features such as shapes or surface textures or other combinations.
Plant variety
A new variety of plant breeder is protected by the State. To be eligible for plant diversity protection, diversity
must be novel, distinct and similar to existing varieties and its essential characteristics under the Plant
Protection and Protection Act, 2001 should be uniform and stable. A plant breeder is given a license or special
right to do the following in relation to different types of promotional material:
1. Produce and reproduce the material
2. Condition the material for the purpose of propagation
3. Offer material for sale
4. Sell the materials
5. Export the materials
6. Import the materials
7. The stock of goods for the above purposes

Typically, countries are protecting new plant varieties through the Sui Genis system. The general purpose of
conservation is to encourage those who intend to manufacture, finance, or exploit such products to serve
their purpose, particularly where they otherwise do not work at all.

The enactment of the Protection of Plant Varieties and ‘Farmers’ Rights Act 2001 is an outcome of the India’s
obligation which arose from article 27(3)(b) of the TRIPs Agreement of 2001 which obliges members to
protect plant varieties either by patents or by effective sui generic system or by any combination thereof
India declined to protect plant varieties by a sui generis law, i.e. the Plant Varieties Act.

The Concept of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property, very broadly, means the legal property which results from intellectual activity in the
industrial, scientific and artistic fields. Countries have laws to protect intellectual property for two main
reasons. One is to give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creations
and such rights of the public in access to those creations. The second is to promote, as a deliberate act of
government policy, creativity and the dissemination and application of its results and to encourage fair
trading which would contribute to economic and social development.

Generally speaking, IP law aims at safeguarding creators and other producers of intellectual goods and
services by granting them certain time- limited rights to control the use made of those productions. These
rights do not apply to the physical object in which the creation may be embodied but instead to the
intellectual creation as such. IP is traditionally divided into two branches: “industrial property and copyright”.
The convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), concluded in Stockholm on
July 14, 1967 (Art. 2(viii) provides that
“Intellectual property shall include rights relating to:
1) Literary, artistic and scientific works:
2) Performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts;
3) Inventions in all fields of human behavior;
4) Scientific discoveries;
5) Industrial designs;
6) Trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations;
7) Protection against unfair competition and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in industrial
scientific, literary or artistic fields”.

The areas mentioned under

(1) Belong to the copyright branch of intellectual property. The areas mentioned in
(2) Are usually called “neighboring rights”, that is, rights neighboring on copyright?

The areas mentioned under 3, 5 and 6 constitute the industrial property branch of IP. The areas mentioned
may also be considered as belonging to that branch.

The expression industrial property covers inventions and industrial designs. Simply stated, inventions are
new solutions to technical problems, and industrial designs are aesthetic creations determining the
appearance of industrial products. In addition, industrial property includes trademarks, service marks,
commercial names and designations, including indications of source and appellations of origin, and
protection against unfair competition. Hence the aspect of intellectual creations -although existent -is less
prominent, but what counts here is that the object of industrial property typically consists of signs
transmitting information to consumers, in particular, as regards products and services offered on the market,
and that the protection is directed against unauthorized use of such signs which is likely to mislead
consumers and misleading practices in general.
Evolution of IPR
What Is a Trade Secret?
A trade secret is any practice or process of a company that is generally not known outside of the
company. Information considered a trade secret gives the company a competitive advantage over its
competitors and is often a product of internal research and development.

To be legally considered a trade secret in the United States, a company must make a reasonable effort in
concealing the information from the public; the secret must intrinsically have economic value, and the trade
secret must contain information. Trade secrets are a part of a company's intellectual property. Unlike
a patent, a trade secret is not publicly known.

What are examples of trade secrets?

Examples of trade secrets can include engineering information; methods, processes, and know-how;
tolerances and formulas; business and financial information; computer programs (particularly source code)
and related information; pending, unpublished patent applications; business plans; budgets;

What is a utility model?

Similar to patents, utility models protect new technical inventions through granting a limited exclusive
right to prevent others from commercially exploiting the protected inventions without consents of the
right holders.

What is biological diversity in IPR?

“Biological Diversity” means the variability among living organisms from. all sources and the ecological
complexes of which they are part and includes. diversity within species or between species and of eco-
systems “Biological resources” means plants, animals and microorganisms or parts.

The WTO and World Intellectual Property Organization

The link between the WTO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is deeply rooted in the
multilateral trading system. During the Uruguay Round, negotiators sought to connect the two institutions.
The Preamble to the TRIPS Agreement encapsulates this connection by calling on the two organizations to
establish a mutually supportive relationship. Further, the TRIPS Agreement legally requires Members to
abide by certain rules of key conventions administered by WIPO

1995 WIPO-WTO Cooperation Agreement

The complementarily between the two organizations was further strengthened by the WIPO-WTO
Cooperation Agreement. The Agreement covers transparency mechanisms, technical assistance and training
and the implementation of a provision of WIPO’s Paris Convention on state emblems.
The WIPO is an observer to the TRIPS Council, and the WTO enjoys observer status at the WIPO.

Joint Technical Assistance

Joint technical assistance and training activities, based, inter alia, on the joint initiatives of 1998 and 2001,
aim to build the capacity of developing countries and LDCs in implementing the TRIPS Agreement, to enhance
an understanding and participation in the global IP system and to help foster IP law and policy decision-
making that coheres with broader public policy objectives.
The two flagship Geneva-based joint courses, the IP Advanced Course for policymakers and the Colloquium
for IP teachers, are intensive programmes that give detailed and multi-stakeholder insight into the global IP
system. The organizations also jointly publish the IP Colloquium Research Paper series – a collection of
papers on IP issues directly relevant to developing countries.

WIPO's two main objectives are

(i) to promote the protection of intellectual property worldwide; and
(ii) to ensure administrative cooperation among the intellectual property Unions established by the
treaties that WIPO administers.

In order to attain these objectives, WIPO, in addition to performing the administrative tasks of the Unions,
undertakes a number of activities, including:
(i) normative activities, involving the setting of norms and standards for the protection and
enforcement of intellectual property rights through the conclusion of international treaties;
(ii) program activities, involving legal and technical assistance to States in the field of intellectual
property;
(iii) international classification and standardization activities, involving cooperation among
industrial property offices concerning patent, trademark and industrial design documentation;
and
(iv) Registration and filing activities, involving services related to international applications for
patents for inventions and for the registration of marks and industrial designs.

Common rules of IPR

The concepts that underpin the protection of ideas and inventions are not new; such laws have been around
for several hundred years and are discussed under the broad heading of intellectual property (IP). IP is easily
misunderstood, but at the same time most scientists encounter it at some point in their career, as it is a
necessary feature in the commercialization of research.

The term intellectual property includes such concepts and rights as copyright, trademarks, industrial design
rights, and patents. It is important to remember that IP is a tool to help your endeavours, and not a goal in
itself. Having IP for its own sake is pointless. IP can be crucial in commercializing research and running a
successful science-based business, but having a patent and having a successful patented product are two very
different things.

Above all, IP can only work for you if you understand what it is, why you want it, and what you are going to do
with it. These ten simple rules are intended to provide an overview of these issues; however, we must start
with a warning. Laws relating to IP change all the time, they are complex, sometimes rather obscure, and are
very different from country to country. For example, research surrounding methods of treatment by surgery
and therapy and diagnostic methods are patentable in the United States, but specifically excluded from
patentability in Europe [1]. However, these boundaries seem to be shifting in both the US and Europe. In
short, we are dealing with a complex and changing subject and restrict ourselves here to the guiding
principles.
 Rule 1: Get Professional Help
Although the process of obtaining IP looks deceptively simple, like many things the devil is in the detail. Let's
consider patents as an example. The practicalities of patent application are straightforward; you simply file
documents with the relevant body indicating that a patent is sought, and provide the identity of the person
applying and a description of the “invention” for which a patent is sought. The patent office will then write
back to you with an application number.

However, there is no guarantee that a patent application will become a granted patent. Indeed, at the
application stage they do not even check that your description describes an invention at all. Even if you draft
a description in as much detail as you would for an academic research paper and file it yourself, the prospect
that it will be granted and enforceable is very low. There is skill and technique, even a language, that patent
attorneys and patent agents have that allows them to describe and define inventions in the way a patent
office requires. As an example, in everyday parlance, the terms “comprise” and “consist” could be considered
to mean the same, whereas they have very distinct meanings in a patent application.

The dangers are possibly even greater with trademarks and registered designs (also known as “design
patents”)—these are generally granted with very little examination and patent offices are often even less
inclined to suggest using a patent/trademark attorney for such “simpler” rights; however, the lack of
examination means the validity of such a right is uncertain and they become open to challenge.
The costs of redrafting a self-filed application are invariably higher than the costs for drafting an application
from scratch, and if there has been any disclosure it will probably not be possible to re-draft. So, in summary,
if you want your IP to be valuable, you should seek professional advice at an early stage.

Rule 2: Know Your (Intellectual Property) Rights

IP rights come in various guises, and each is a defensive right to pursue legal action in the event that a third
party infringes. In very basic terms:
 Patents protect inventions—broadly, things that are new and not obvious—and the way they work.
Sometimes this is expressed as “everything under the sun made by man”; however, there are numerous local
exceptions from patentability—we touched on the complexities of methods of treatment above—but there
are similar issues in relation to genes, computer programs, and business methods, for example.
 Registered designs protect the appearance of products (not the function, which is protected by patents).
 Trademarks protect brands (e.g., trade names and logos).
 Copyright protects the expression of ideas—i.e., the words you choose to use to describe your idea—not an
idea itself.

Most businesses do not need the trinity of patents, trademarks, and designs; in fact, trademarks are probably
the only IP most companies have or need, however for a few companies the full house is required: for
example, consider the Apple® iPad®: two registered trademarks, a registered design for its shape, and of
course patents for the way it interacts with the user. Not to mention copyright covering the code and the
packaging. A huge battle in the courts around the world is currently taking place over these rights that may
well effect changes in the law. The Wall Street Journal calls the recent Apple/Samsung case “the patent trial of
the century”.
Rule 3: Think about Why You Want IP (i.e., What You Will Actually Do with It)
Any money spent on IP is capital that cannot be spent on production, marketing, etc., so think carefully about
why you are investing in protecting your IP. There are many good reasons: to stop people from copying you;
to add value to your company if you want to sell it; to sell or license to a third party; to hold it in your armory
if you suspect you are going to be sued and want to countersue (for example, Google has spent a substantial
amount of money buying patents recently; even to reduce your tax bill (in certain countries profits attributed
to patents can be taxed at a lower rate ).

However, in general, IP is a right to prevent other people from doing something; owning IP does not
necessarily give you the right to do anything yourself.
One school of thought says that IP is only valuable if you are willing to enforce or defend it, and the cost of
such an action can be prohibitive. Indeed, the business model of “patent trolls” is to purchase patents,
sometimes from those who cannot afford to enforce them, not to use the invention, but just to enforce against
infringing companies. On the other hand, the term “defensive IP” has been used to describe IP obtained, not to
stop other people from competing, but to stop a competitor from patenting something that you may wish to
use in the future. Thus a patent application may be filed, and published but allowed to lapse, with no intention
of ever enforcing it, simply because the step of publication will mean that should a competitor apply to patent
the same or a similar invention, the patent office will locate your application and it will anticipate the
competitor's application.

Note also that while this article is titled “Ten Simple Rules to Protect Your IP”, it is important not to be too
introspective and to consider other people's IP. For example, successful strategies can be built around taking
exclusive licenses—licenses that exclude even the IP owner from using the IP. One tactic to improve your
competitive position can be to take an exclusive license under a patent, then either expand your range to
include the patented product, or continue only to sell your own product, but use the exclusive license to
prevent manufacture of the other by anybody else.

Rule 4: If You Don't Protect the IP, Your Innovation Is Less Likely to Happen
Maybe you are not an entrepreneur yourself, but have an idea that you would like to see it exploited—it
could, after all, make the world a better place. You can publish it—then anyone who wishes can use it freely.
But the big question here is, will they? Many inventors think that by publishing their ideas freely they are
more likely to have them exploited; however, the converse is often true (for example, in health care, where
lack of patent protection is often cited as a major reason for not following up an idea (T. Roberts, former
president of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys [UK]).

The reason is economic: most innovations require investment, and investors look for a return on their money.
However, ideas that are released without any IP protection will often immediately attract competitors who
can perhaps undercut the inventor (for example, with economies of scale). This decreases the likelihood of
investment in the development of an invention (which is often more crucial than the invention itself) and
increases the need for investment in marketing, etc. to obtain a competitive edge.
So what we have to consider here is that—even if you don't want to profit personally from the innovation—it
may still pay to protect it so that it will see the light of day through other investors. Remember, IP can be
licensed and what happens to the resulting income is up to the IP's owner. And this is a point where it gets
complex for scientists and others who invent as part of their employment. We will cover this in more detail in
Rule 10.

Rule 5: What's in a Name?

You have a great idea but it's not patentable, or you have applied for patent protection but are worried that it
may not cover everything, and of course the protection will expire after 20 years [5]. This is where
trademarks come in to fill the gap in your protection. Unlike patents and designs, a trademark or brand can be
protected with a registration at any time (unless someone else has got there before you)—you do not need to
have kept your name a secret, and once registered the right will only expire if you stop using it or fail to
renew it (generally every 10 years). So, you can protect your invention with a patent and sell it under your
brand, which is also protected. Once the patent protection expires, customers are used to buying your
product with reference to your brand, and will hopefully continue to do so even though competitors may start
offering rival products. Just make sure your brand is something memorable and unique to you.

Viagra is just one example of a trademark so closely associated with the product (sildenafil) that a good
proportion of the market should remain in the hands of the trademark owner well after the patent has
expired (in this instance, if priced competitively). You do need to be careful here in selecting the name you are
protecting: descriptive brands are easy to market but hard to protect because descriptive terms do not fulfil
the requirement of “distinct character”. And you can be too successful: many people now use the trademark
Hoover to mean a generic vacuum cleaner, Thermos for a vacuum flask to keep food hot, or Tannoy for a
public address system. It can be very expensive in terms of lawyers fees to police such trademarks and keep
protecting these names and prevent them becoming simply part of the language and hence devalued.

Rule 6: Be Realistic about What You Can, and Cannot, Protect

IP rights are, generally speaking, national rights provided by individual governments to regulate activity in
that particular country. In some cases there are bilateral and multilateral agreements (for example, most of
the world has signed up to the Berne Agreement, which accords the same level of copyright protection to
foreign nationals of other Berne states that is provided to nationals of the state concerned [6]).
However, for most rights, it is a national issue. In an ideal world, each incremental improvement would be
patented in each national jurisdiction (there are approximately 200 countries in the world), along with the
name you trade under, and every brand would be the subject of a trademark, as would any color associated
with your company and any sound you use, your products and their packaging would be the subject of
registered designs, and your patent attorneys would be very wealthy!

In the real world it is essential to be realistic. A patenting regime covering more than the US, Europe, and a
handful of other countries is a rare sight outside the realms of very large companies (such as big pharma),
and even many big companies restrict themselves to key markets.

Rule 7: It's Big Business and Controversial

The world of IP is a big one. It's controversial, as it has a huge impact on international relations and trade. It's
also controversial for political reasons, as many people feel that aggressive protection stifles the utility of
products that have the potential to do good in the emerging world (again, for example, big pharma). The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the United Nations agency dedicated to this area [7], and
it's worth considering its overarching aims, which include reducing the knowledge gap between developed
and developing countries, and ensuring that the IP system continues to effectively serve its fundamental
purpose of encouraging creativity and innovation in all countries.
Of course, many question the value to society of IP, or at least the expansion of IP, in promoting creativity and
innovation. The Public Library of Science describes itself as a driving force of the open-access movement, and
accordingly, unlike many copyrighted works, this article may be copied without seeking permission, provided
that the original authors and source are cited.

It can be hard, for example, to defend the extension of copyright from 50 years after an author's death to 70
years on the grounds that the extra 20 years of protection is in any way likely to encourage creativity.
Whatever your thoughts on IP, it is worth bearing in mind that others may disagree.
As a scientist and innovator you may be driven by many ideals: to make the world a better place, perhaps, or
to buy yourself a yacht—we are all different. But like it or not, if you want to commercialize your ideas you
cannot avoid the issue of IP, and we go back to Rule 1 here—get professional advice. Even if your aim is
totally philanthropic you may still need to invest to protect your innovation, perversely because this is what
will give it the biggest chance of actually succeeding. Simply make sure you tell your patent attorney what
your ultimate aims are.

Rule 8: Keep Your Idea Secret until You Have Filed a Patent Application
Little upsets a patent attorney more than hearing “I have a great idea—it's selling really well” or “I've shown
it to a few companies and they seem very interested”.

There is an old maxim that says a secret shared is not a secret anymore. While a secret shared under a non-
disclosure agreement (NDA)—documents most people have heard about but probably never read—ought to
stay secret, discussing an invention under the umbrella of confidentiality is no substitute for being able to
freely discuss or publish an idea that is protected by a patent application.
Obviously, once your idea is published by a journal it is too late to file a patent application—your invention
has been made available to the public. However, earlier in the publication cycle the situation is different. If
you send a paper to a journal for submission, it will (excluding open review) be treated as a confidential
disclosure to the publisher and the reviewers. Notwithstanding, the best advice is still to file a patent
application before submitting a paper, either to avoid a potential “abusive disclosure” or hold up the
publication of the paper.

In summary, novelty is key to patentability and your own disclosures count against you, so remember to file a
patent application before telling anybody who is not bound by confidence.

Rule 9: Trade Secrets

Regarding patents, the economic reasoning behind the system is an exchange between you and the public.
The government allows you a monopoly, and your side of the bargain is to disclose fully your invention so
that once your 20 years of protection is up, it can be freely exploited for the good of society. A patent can
provide you with a 20-year government approved monopoly. However, some ideas cannot be patented and
indeed, some innovators don't want to patent their ideas. All is not lost here, however, as we fall back on an
older idea and one much beloved of thriller writers: the trade secret.
If you really can keep a secret, your monopoly on an idea or product may never end. But once the genie's out
of the bottle, like a champagne cork, you won't get it back in and you are unlikely to extract sufficient
damages from whoever breaches confidentiality. Thus, if you have an idea that cannot be reverse engineered,
you do not have to enter into the patent bargain. Trade secrets are free—just prevent the secret being
disclosed. But bear in mind that that this can be very difficult indeed, but not impossible. Famous successful
examples include the recipe for Coca-Cola and the formulation of the alcoholic beverage Chartreuse, which is
only known by two monks.

Rule 10: Make Sure the IP Is Owned in a Way That Allows Development
Notice that we don't suggest “make sure you own the IP of your invention”. If you discover something whilst
working as an employee (e.g., of a company or an academic establishment), there will certainly be something
in your contract about this. Generally, the employer will have first call on the invention, but may have clauses
that will return rights to the individual if it is not exploited within a certain time—in some countries this is
enshrined in law.

Ownership of IP is a minefield, and can be particularly difficult in an academic setting where numerous
complicating features are involved. Universities, as employers, are likely to have a right to their employees'
inventions; funding bodies may make their own claim; inventorship is not like authorship—the people whose
names are on an academic paper are unlikely all to be inventors; and in cross-border collaborations, national
laws on ownership may well be in competition with each other. One complicating factor that is often
encountered is joint ownership: if you can, avoid joint ownership; instead, set up a company to own the IP
and license it to partners if necessary (otherwise you face differing national rules on what joint owners can
do with and without each other's permission).

If it is necessary to share IP, work out at the beginning who owns what, what rights each party has and
importantly who will have the right to future inventions. In fact this is a common theme in several of our Ten
Simple Rules: as soon as money rears it ugly head, strife follows, so it's as well to plan for dispute resolution
right from the beginning.

In summary, first, you can never act too early, but it's very easy to act too late. Like many topics that involve
the law, IP is a mind-numbingly complex topic and more so, perhaps, as it's not national, but international, so
get the very best professional advice you can. If you are working as an employee, speak to your company at
the earliest stage; they have a vested interest in helping get it right. Second, because significant sums of
money are involved, plan for future discord. Finally, persevere: your invention can make the world a better
place.

Types and Features of IPR Agreement

The areas of intellectual property that it covers are: copyright and related rights (i.e. the rights of performers,
producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations); trademarks including service
marks; geographical indications including appellations of origin; industrial designs; patents including the
protection of new varieties of plants; the layout-designs of integrated circuits; and undisclosed
information including trade secrets and test data.
The three main features of the Agreement are:
  Standards. In respect of each of the main areas of intellectual property covered by the TRIPS
Agreement, the Agreement sets out the minimum standards of protection to be provided by each
Member. Each of the main elements of protection is defined, namely the subject-matter to be
protected, the rights to be conferred and permissible exceptions to those rights, and the minimum
duration of protection. The Agreement sets these standards by requiring, first, that the
substantive obligations of the main conventions of the WIPO, the Paris Convention for the
Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) and the Berne Convention for the Protection
of Literary and Artistic Works (Berne Convention) in their most recent versions, must be complied
with. With the exception of the provisions of the Berne Convention on moral rights, all the main
substantive provisions of these conventions are incorporated by reference and thus become
obligations under the TRIPS Agreement between TRIPS Member countries. The relevant
provisions are to be found in Articles 2.1 and 9.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, which relate,
respectively, to the Paris Convention and to the Berne Convention. Secondly, the TRIPS Agreement
adds a substantial number of additional obligations on matters where the pre-existing
conventions are silent or were seen as being inadequate. The TRIPS Agreement is thus sometimes
referred to as a Berne and Paris-plus agreement.
 Enforcement. The second main set of provisions deals with domestic procedures and remedies for
the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement lays down certain general
principles applicable to all IPR enforcement procedures. In addition, it contains provisions on civil
and administrative procedures and remedies, provisional measures, special requirements related
to border measures and criminal procedures, which specify, in a certain amount of detail, the
procedures and remedies that must be available so that right holders can effectively enforce their
rights.
 Dispute settlement. The Agreement makes disputes between WTO Members about the respect of the
TRIPS obligations subject to the WTO's dispute settlement procedures.

In addition the Agreement provides for certain basic principles, such as national and most-favored-nation
treatment, and some general rules to ensure that procedural difficulties in acquiring or maintaining IPRs do
not nullify the substantive benefits that should flow from the Agreement. The obligations under the
Agreement will apply equally to all Member countries, but developing countries will have a longer period to
phase them in. Special transition arrangements operate in the situation where a developing country does not
presently provide product patent protection in the area of pharmaceuticals.

The TRIPS Agreement is a minimum standards agreement, which allows Members to provide more extensive
protection of intellectual property if they so wish. Members are left free to determine the appropriate method
of implementing the provisions of the Agreement within their own legal system and practice
REFERENCE
FOUR TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTIONS
There are four types of intellectual property rights and protections (although multiple types of intellectual
property itself). Securing the correct protection for your property is important, which is why consulting with
a lawyer is a must. The four categories of intellectual property protections include:

TRADE SECRETS
Trade secrets refer to specific, private information that is important to a business because it gives the
business a competitive advantage in its marketplace. If a trade secret is acquired by another company, it
could harm the original holder.
Examples of trade secrets include recipes for certain foods and beverages (like Mrs. Fields’ cookies or Sprite),
new inventions, software, processes, and even different marketing strategies.
When a person or business holds a trade secret protection, others cannot copy or steal the idea. In order to
establish information as a “trade secret,” and to incur the legal protections associated with trade secrets,
businesses must actively behave in a manner that demonstrates their desire to protect the information.
Trade secrets are protected without official registration; however, an owner of a trade secret whose rights are
breached–i.e. someone steals their trade secret–may ask a court to ask against that individual and prevent
them from using the trade secret.

PATENTS
As defined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent is a type of limited-duration protection
that can be used to protect inventions (or discoveries) that are new, non-obvious, and useful, such a new
process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter.
When a property owner holds a patent, others are prevented, under law, from offering for sale, making, or
using the product.

COPYRIGHTS
Copyrights and patents are not the same things, although they are often confused. A copyright is a type of
intellectual property protection that protects original works of authorship, which might include literary
works, music, art, and more. Today, copyrights also protect computer software and architecture.
Copyright protections are automatic; once you create something, it is yours. However, if your rights under
copyright protections are infringed and you wish to file a lawsuit, then registration of your copyright will be
necessary.

TRADEMARKS
Finally, the fourth type of intellectual property protection is a trademark protection. Remember, patents are
used to protect inventions and discoveries and copyrights are used to protect expressions of ideas and
creations, like art and writing.
Trademarks, then, refer to phrases, words, or symbols that distinguish the source of a product or services of
one party from another. For example, the Nike symbol–which nearly all could easily recognize and identify–is
a type of trademark.
While patents and copyrights can expire, trademark rights come from the use of the trademark, and therefore
can be held indefinitely. Like a copyright, registration of a trademark is not required, but registering can offer
additional advantages.

UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The main functions of UNESCO are to ensure that every child has access to a proper education, promoting
cultural acceptance between nations while protecting historical sites, improving technology to aid in the
distribution of resources and energy, and secure the safety of individual expression and basic human rights.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was born on 16 November
1945. UNESCO has 195 Members and 8 Associate Members and is governed by the General Conference and
the Executive Board. The Secretariat, headed by the Director-General, implements the decisions of these two
bodies. The Organization has more than 50 field offices around the world and its headquarters are located in
Paris.
UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of a culture of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable
development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and
information.
UNESCO works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon
respect for commonly shared values. It is through this dialogue that the world can achieve global visions of
sustainable development encompassing observance of human rights, mutual respect and the alleviation of
poverty, all of which are at the heart of UNESCO’s mission and activities.
UNESCO focuses on a set of objectives in the global priority areas “ Africa” and “Gender Equality”
And on a number of overarching objectives:
 Attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning
 Mobilizing science knowledge and policy for sustainable development
 Addressing emerging social and ethical challenges
 Fostering cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace
 Building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication