HS-401: Professional Values and

Ethics
Lecture no 5: Intellectual Property Rights
Friends share all things. ---PYTHAGORAS

Today’s pirates operate not on the high seas but on the Internet.
---Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Intelligent Property (IP) and Intellectual
Property Rights (IPRs)
Intellect = Mental Power
Intellectual property- is the name given to legal
rights which protect creative works, inventions
and commercial goodwill, including copyrights,
trademarks, patents, and related rights.

Intellectual Property Rights- are designed to

provide remedies against those who steal the
fruits of another person’s ideas or work. For
example if a person writes a computer program,
he will be able to take legal actions to obtain an
injunction against anyone who copies the program
without his permission. 3
 Intellectual Property Rights
Main types of Intellectual Property

•Copyrights
•Trade Marks
•Patents

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 Intellectual Property Rights
•Copyright protects “Expressive work”. Expressive works may
include creative works (literary, dramatic, musical, pictorial,
graphic, and artistic) together with audio-visual and
architectural works and sound recordings.
•The rights of authors of literary and artistic works (such as
books and other writings, musical compositions, paintings,
sculpture, computer programs and films) are protected by
copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death
of the author.

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 Intellectual Property Rights
•Patent protects “Inventions or Discoveries”. Patent Law is
mainly concerned with new inventions such as a new type
of computer hardware, or a new process for use in
manufacture of Integrated circuits (ICs).
•For an invention to be protected by a patent, an application
must be made to the Patent Office which is an expensive
and lengthy process but if granted, the patent can be
renewed for a total period of up to 20 years.

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 Intellectual Property Rights
•Trademark protects marks that are placed on goods to
distinguish them from other work.
•To be registrable, the mark must be distinctive and capable
of being represented graphically.
•Trade marks are very important as they become associated
with successful products and purchasers normally buy or
order goods or services by reference to the mark.
•Initial registration of trademark and each renewal of
registration shall be for a term of not less than 7 years and
the registration shall be renewable indefinitely.

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Intellectual Property Rights
Exceptions to Copyright

•Copying for non-commercial research or private

study.

•Quoting for critique or review, with acknowledge

of the source.

•Reproducing an artistic work by hand as a class

assignment in an educational establishment.

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 Intellectual Property Rights
trademark

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Intellectual Property Rights

“Limited times” (US)

Utility patents = 20 years from filing
Design patents = 14 years from issue

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Intellectual Property Rights
Types of Patents

•Utility patents
- Protects functional aspects of
an invention.
- Term: 20 years from filing
•Design patents
- Protect ornamental designs
- Term: 14 years from issue date

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Intellectual Property Rights

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Intellectual Property Rights

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Intellectual Property Rights

What can be Patented?

• Products
• Process (functional or technical)
• Software

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Intellectual Property Rights
Criteria for Patent

•Utility
- must be useful, or have a use
•Novelty
- must be new, should not have been disclosed/practiced
before
•Non-obvious
- the difference between existing art and the invention
must be sufficiently great as to warrant a patent.

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 Intellectual Property Rights
Question : An inventor writes a
computer program and is protected
from others copying it by………

A. Copyright
B. A Patent
C. A Registered Trademark

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Intellectual Property Rights

Copyright protects software from

duplication and copying (ex: Microsoft can
prosecute those that copy MS Word)

Patents protect an algorithm or program

function

Trademarks protect a brand name of

software

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Intellectual Property Rights
Patent Search Resources on the Internet

http://www.google.com/patents
For Europe:
http://ep.espacenet.com/
For Us
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

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THANK YOU

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