The United Nations World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) registered an all-time high in patent applications filing accepted in 2008, throughout its 30-year history. A total of 1.76 million filings were received. This number has seen a slight fall last year of 4.5%, owing to the US recession. Among the countries that filed patent applications, the US had the most number of filings, followed by Japan and Germany, respectively, and Republic Of Korea. China took a big leap forward ranking 5th, and displacing France.

Acutely mindful of the current state of economy, many corporations providentially attempt intellectual property security primarily by filing patent application. An invention is bastioned from being imitated by competitor parties in the inventor’s originating country and even across borders.

In patent application, timing is key. The first to file the patent for an invention has the claim over the patent rights for that invention.

Holding this in mind, patent applicants commonly consider the Patent Cooperation Treaty route for patent application filing. Through the PCT, an applicant secures a priority date for 30 months as he processes the filing of the patent in his own nation and in the other 141 member nations of the PCT union where he resolves to engage patent application as well.

This great reward has settled the timing and cost issues. Patent applications filed through the PCT reap the benefits of postponing both the profound costs related with individual country filings and also the decision as to which countries to enter for 2 years, while retaining an earlier priority date.

A patent applicant should check the needful information as to the reach and state of local patent and intellectual property jurisprudences, as well as the involutions of patent and intellectual property legislation in the states where he looks for to file application.

This selective information will help define the proper steps to select in registering a patent application through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

For more information on patents filing and assistance in patent application through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, talk to us today. Unique version for reprint here: The Patent Cooperation Treaty: Safeguarding Intellectual Property.

An industrial design is made up of shape creation, pattern and color composition, or combination of pattern and color in a three dimensional form which contains aesthetic value.

Moreover, it is applied to a vast variety of industrial products and handicraft. Certain examples of its special applications are as follows: jewelry, luxury items, medical and technical instruments, housewares, electrical appliances, architectural structures, textile designs, and leisure goods

Why The need For A Creator To Guard His Industrial Design?

Granting exclusive rights – With a protected industrial design, the creator is ensured of an exceptional right against outlawed replication or usage of his product’s design by malicious people. This may help in ensuring a fair return on investment. Furthermore, protection gives the owner the right to make some necessary courses of actions against any infringer for violating his rights.

Simple to do and inexpensive – Acquiring a developed and guarded product can be simple and cost-effective. Craftsmen, artists, and small and medium-sized enterprises in both developing and industrialized countries can easily gain protection.

Results to a fair competition – With an effective system of protection, honest trade practices and fair competition are promoted, therefore producing more creative and aesthetically attractive products for the consumers’ gains.

Things To Do To Protect An Industrial Design

Generally, an industrial design should first be registered for it to be recognized and guarded by the law. The design must be unique or original to be registered; meaning no much the same or identical design has been existing in the past. After processing the application, a registration certificate will be issued.

The protection for the product typically lasts for five years, and can possibly be renewed for further periods, which is typically 15 years (in most cases).

Furthermore, an industrial design may be considered and safeguarded as a work of wart under copyright law, with respect to the particular country law and kind of design.

Product creators or owners should definitely have the rights to solely enjoy the fruits of their labor. For this, it is important to protect all of their creative assets or commonly known as their intellectual properties. By all means, creators need to fight for their rights, for it is not just the tangible properties that matter; intellectual properties also do.

Learn some more about industrial design and discover much more about intellectual property. Also published at What A Product Owner Should Know About Industrial Design Protection.

Patents are legal rights that allow creators of specific products to stop malicious persons from illegitimately using their products for a particular length of time. They are typically applicable to inventions in the field of technology, scientific theories, and biological discoveries.

As regarded by the state, these lawful rights also enable the creator of a product to take some actions against anyone who violates his exceptional rights over the use of his inventions.

The requirements placed, the procedure for granting, and the extent of the exclusive rights differ a lot between various countries with respect to national laws and international agreements.

There are three main types of patents. These principal types are as follows.

Utility: Once approved, it provides the owner the right to prevent others from using, selling, making, and importing a good. This right extends for a length of time which is generally twenty years after the application filing date. The span of time may be extended in certain situations, although rare, most especially when it is a pharmaceutical product that a patent covers.

Design: It is granted to an owner to protect his product’s structure and looks. To give a clearer picture, it guards the shape, pattern, and even the product’s ornamentation. It is likewise often used by companies which are engaged in developing or upgrading the present products instead of producing entirely new ones.

Plant: This category works on the protection granted for invention of an asexually produced distinct variety of a plant which is unknown and new in the field. It likewise safeguards the inventor against malicious individuals who may have plans of recreating or selling the whole plant or even a part of it.

These are the three main classifications of patents. The utility patents that demands to be applied for four years can be temporary utility applications. It may sometimes be hard to identify between the first two forms, but it may help to always remember that utility patents protect the useful aspects of new inventions, while design protects the ornamental features of those useful inventions. Plant, on the other hand, deals with asexually reproducible diversities.

Learn some more about the importance of patents and discover much more about patent lawyer. Free reprint avaialable from: How Different Types Of Patents Vary From Each Other.

There is this man who has a great talent in literature and music. His world goes around writing heart-felt poems and songs; his day-in-a-life will not be complete without producing a piece. Someday, he would like to see himself as a well-known composer, singer, or a poet.

He wills to do everything to reach for his dreams – joining national contests for writing and even selling his songs to recording companies. He is really serious about his dream of becoming famous for his compositions. Unfortunately, it seems that his compositions lack marketability because not even one person pays attention to them.

He considered shutting off his dreams from his system until one lazy day, he heard a lovely song on the radio. It’s got a really nice melody and because of that, he listened more attentively. He was astonished, for he knows the full lyrics of the song. He may not know the melody but the lyrics…he is certain that he wrote those words!

Poor talented man, someone probably stole his intellectual property! What must he do?

What Intellectual Property Is

Any creative asset such as artwork, music, or literary piece; which is developed by a person is commonly called his intellectual property. The creator and owner of the asset has total control of his work.

What Are The Owner’s Rights Regarding His Intellectual Property?

An intellectual property should be used by the owner alone. Also, he is the sole person who has the right to freely reproduce the material. Only the authorized persons can use and reproduce the owner’s work.

Furthermore, the owner can also object to any attempt of modification by other parties to his work. Every single action done with his intellectual property without his permission is subject to penalty, if the owner wills to fight for his rights.

Solving The Problem As Regards To A Stolen Intellectual Property

Heading back to the guy in the story, he has all the right to investigate and pursue a case against the company or person that stole his song. What he ought to do first is to recognize the possible suspects. He once tried to sell his song to a recording company and for that, the representative of such company and all other people involved in his attempt to sell his song could be considered as suspects.

An investigation ought to be done after identifying the suspects. When the result has come out and proved to be true, the guy may still have the prerogative to decide if he would still want to demand for further investigations or other courses of actions.

Just like houses, cars, and other tangible properties, an intellectual property should also be given importance. The owner worked hard for it and because of this, he must fight for his property by all means.

Learn some more about the importance of intellectual property and discover much more about patent lawyer. This article, Giving Importance To Intellectual Property is available for free reprint.