What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

Patents

What is a patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. In other words, a patent is an exclusive right to a product or a process that generally provides a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.

The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent. Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain; that is, anyone can commercially exploit the invention without infringing the patent.

 What rights does a patent provide?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner’s consent.

 https://www.wipo.int/patents/en/faq_patents.html

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Trademarks

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights.

How can I protect my trademark?

At the national/regional level, trademark protection can be obtained through registration, by filing an application for registration with the national/regional trademark office and paying the required fees. At the international level, you have two options: either you can file a trademark application with the trademark office of each country in which you are seeking protection, or you can use WIPO’s Madrid System.

https://www.wipo.int/trademarks/en/

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Copyright

What is copyright?

Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

What can be protected using copyright?

Exhaustive lists of works covered by copyright are usually not to be found in legislation. Nonetheless, broadly speaking, works commonly protected by copyright throughout the world include:

• literary works such as novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspaper articles;
• computer programs, databases;
• films, musical compositions, and choreography;
• artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculpture;
• architecture; and
• advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

Copyright protection extends only to expressions, and not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such. Copyright may or may not be available for a number of objects such as titles, slogans, or logos, depending on whether they contain sufficient authorship.

https://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/faq_copyright.html

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Industrial Designs

What is an industrial design?

In a legal sense, an industrial design constitutes the ornamental aspect of an article.

An industrial design may consist of three dimensional features, such as the shape of an article, or two dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color.

 What kind of protection does an industrial design right offer?

In principle, the owner of a registered industrial design or of a design patent has the right to prevent third parties from making, selling or importing articles bearing or embodying a design which is a copy, or substantially a copy, of the protected design, when such acts are undertaken for commercial purposes.

https://www.wipo.int/designs/en/faq_industrialdesigns.html

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Geographical Indications

What is a geographical indication?

A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place. In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production.

https://www.wipo.int/geo_indications/en/faq_geographicalindications.html

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What is a trade secret?

Trade secrets are intellectual property (IP) rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed.

In general, to qualify as a trade secret, the information must be:

• commercially valuable because it is secret,
• be known only to a limited group of persons, and
• be subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret, including the use of confidentiality agreements for business partners and employees.

The unauthorized acquisition, use or disclosure of such secret information in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices by others is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret protection.

https://www.wipo.int/tradesecrets/en/tradesecrets_faqs.html

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What is a Licensing Agreement?

A licensing agreement is a contract between two parties (the licensor and licensee) in which the licensor grants the licensee the right to use the brand name, trademark, patented technology, or ability to produce and sell goods owned by the licensor. In other words, a licensing agreement grants the licensee the ability to use intellectual property owned by the licensor. Licensing agreements are commonly used by the licensor to commercialize their intellectual property.

Quick Summary:

A licensing agreement is a contract between a licensor and licensee in which the licensee gains access to the licensor’s intellectual property.

The party providing the intellectual property is called the licensor while the party receiving the intellectual property is called the licensee.

In a licensing agreement, the licensee typically pays an upfront fee in conjunction with a royalty fee.

Understanding a Licensing Agreement

In a typical licensing agreement, the licensor agrees to provide the licensee with intellectual property rights such as the licensor’s technology, brand name, or product creation know-how. In exchange for the licensor’s intellectual property, the licensee typically plays an upfront fee and/or a royalty fee to the licensor. A royalty fee is an ongoing fee paid for the right of use of the licensor’s intellectual property.

It is important to remember that:

The party that is providing intellectual property rights to another party is called the licensor

The party that is receiving intellectual property rights from another party is called the licensee

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Of considerable economic interest for the design owner is the possibility to grant licenses by a license agreement to third parties (§ 31 DesignG). With regard to the license granted, it is important to distinguish between the area and the type of license (whether or not exclusively license).

Exclusive and non-exclusive licenses

A license may be granted exclusively or not exclusively.

For an exclusive license, only the licensee may use the design within the scope of the license. The design owner may not grant any further licenses to third parties within the scope of the license granted. The Licensee may prohibit any other person, including the Design Owner, from using the DEsign.

A limited version of the exclusive license represents the so-called “sole license”. Thereafter, the design owner may also grant no further licenses to third parties, but he has the right to use the design itself within the scope of the license.

In the case of the non-exclusive license (also called a simple license), the licensee may use the design in the agreed scope, however, the design owner is permitted to grant further licenses to third parties.

The distinction is also relevant to the question of the exercise of rights. The licensee of a non-exclusive license may acc. Section 31 (3) DesignG does not lead to proceedings against third parties for violation of a design without the consent of the design patent holder.

For example, a company specializing in furniture and home furnishings acquires a non-exclusive license for a chair design from a design company. Next, the licensee company determines that a competitor is offering chairs of identical design without, however, having the required license. A procedure of the licensee enterprise opposite with competitor is possible here however only with agreement of the design owner.

However, it is also possible and recommended for the licensee to obtain the license in advance, eg within the framework of the license agreement.

In the case of an exclusive license agreement, the consent of the design owner is dispensable if the licensee has requested the design owner to initiate infringement proceedings himself within a reasonable period of time.

license area

The design rights license can be awarded for the whole federal territory or only an agreed part of it. The same applies to the Community design in relation to the Community territory. The license can then be restricted to, for example, the territory of a Member State.

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Patent Transfer Agreement

On (date) was in (place)

between the company

Name1

– hereinafter referred to as the seller –

and

Name2

– hereinafter referred to as the buyer –

concluded the following contract:

§ 1

Subject of the contract

The subject of the contract is the German patent application P … with the title “…”, which was filed on (date). The seller filed this application in favor of his company.

(Or if there is an existing patent: The subject of the contract is the German patent P … with the title “…”. The seller is the owner of the patent.)

§ 2

The seller hereby transfers to the buyer the rights to obtain patents mentioned in § 1 with all rights and obligations.

On the day this contract is signed, the above rights become the exclusive property of the buyer.

(If necessary, cost compensation obligation: At the same time, the buyer undertakes to reimburse the entire costs incurred by the seller in connection with the patent application and maintenance).

§ 3

Paraphrase

The seller undertakes to transfer the patent rights to the German Patent Office within … weeks from the day the contract was signed.

The seller undertakes to hand over all documents required for the property rights of the German Patent Office within … weeks from the day this contract was signed.

if necessary § 4

In the period between the signing of this contract and the registration of the buyer in the patent role, the seller undertakes to exercise the patent rights under the Patent Act for the buyer vis-à-vis third parties.

… (general agreements)

Name1 (signature)

Name2 (signature) ”