What is intellectual property rights?

Intellectual property rights are rights, which cover the products of the market. When creative people come together and wish to set up a business, all their own ideas are subject to a copyright right. Therefore, a business idea need to become a creative expression. An idea becomes a creative expression when eventually it will turn into a tangible product; example, there was a woman who had a baby, and she could not transport milk or water in a beaker because it split outside. The mother, who knew about the tangible problem, invented a beaker that had a valve. What do you think the mother had done? She sent a box with a beaker full of water to a company who produced children utensils, and she wrote a note inside. If the water is still in the beaker, please give me a call and that what has happened. She had this invention and then wanted to protect it with a patent. The investor knew that there was this problem in the market, and that it was an excellent idea. This is why it was protected with a patent. The mother’s idea and her creative expression became a tangible product. This will introduce the concept of product design as well.

There are different intellectual property rights, which are recognized all over the world including in Malta. They are subject to an international agreement and also to national law. International incorporates the meaning, all over the world i.e. all countries; for example, in the copyright we all have a regional agreement on a European Union level that creates certain basic rules for intellectual property rights.

There are three different intellectual property rights which are:

• copyright – protects various things like literacy, music etc
• patents- protects innovations and procedures. Recently, the University of Malta developed the laparoscopic tools for surgeons and bought a patent too for this invention. (A scissors which combines, a hook and grasper, thus speeding up keyhole surgery)
• trademarks- used for company names and product names

Hope all of you there have understood what is intellectual property right! In the next post, I will blog about the different types of intellectual property rights, so keep in touch with my blog!