Introduction

Intellectual property is a complicated field, and it can be demanding to understand all the aspects, but it is essential to be aware of the most important principles.

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual property, also called IP, lets one own their innovation and inventiveness like owning physical assets. One may own IP, control it, and be rewarded if they manage to use it innovatively.

There are cases where ideas can be isolated using IP, but, in most situations, IP usually particularises an idea before the need for isolation arises. It may not be doable to protect IP and earn IP rights (or IPRs) before they are applied for and granted, but for IP protection situations such as copyright to arise, there is no need for registration. Such situations can show up the moment a record of the created idea comes into existence.

The protection and management of intellectual property can be a critical skill and feature to possess, especially for businesses attempting to establish their presence in the marketplace. This makes it essential for businesses to acknowledge the various formats of intellectual property as some comprise of a formal application, followed by an examination process before the rights are registered. In contrast, others do not require any form of registration.

The following is a glossary defining several rights that may prove to be helpful for businesses:

Confidential information

Responsibilities related to confidence may arise under the general law or under contract. A certain relationship (employer-employee) could lead to duties under the general law or in cases where a person that is aware or should have been aware that the information he or she received was supposed to be confidential. Confidential information has often proven to be the most significant business asset. It could consist of information related to any matter or subject and may be stockpiled in any form. Some examples of confidential information are software code, a new product design, a strategy, etc.

Copyright refers to the right to prevent the act of copying and other related Acts. Works that are copyrighted, therefore, cannot be copied or duplicated. One may copyright their musical, literary, dramatic or artistic works, including films, sound recordings, databases, broadcasts, and much more.

The protection may not always last forever, and its validity depends on the work. For instance, works related to art, drama, music, literature, original database, or a film have their copyrights expired seventy years after the author passed away. In contrast, the same duration is fifty years in broadcasts, sound recordings or typographical arrangements.

Database right

As an owner of a database, one reserves the right to authorise other individuals to draw or re-use the whole, or some part of the contents of a protected database. Protection becomes necessary whenever a considerable investment exists in attaining, authenticating or presenting the contents of a database’s contents. This right is different from copyright. The database right expires 15 years after the calendar year in which the data was first re-used or finished.

Designs

One may choose to register a design if it is new and possesses an individual character. A design can be considered “new” if no such design has previously been made public and has an “individual character” if the general impression it gives to an informed user varies from one of the similar designs previously made available to the public. One can register their design in Ireland or Europe for 5 years, after which it requires renewal. The renewal can be done for a period of 5 years to 25 years.

Patent

Patents come in handy for inventors as they grant the inventor an exclusive right to stop others from utilising their inventions without permission for a certain amount of time. One may patent their invention if it is novel, or is capable of industrial application, or consists of an inventive step. There are two types of patenting: full-term patent and short-term patent. A full-term patent lasts for twenty years, whereas a short-term patent, which can be registered in Ireland, lasts for ten years. One cannot hold both a short-term and a full-term patent for the same invention. If both types of patents are granted to an invention, the short-term patent is considered invalid.

Trademark

A trademark can identify services or goods provided or produced by a particular company or person. A trademark protection period lasts ten years and can easily be renewed any number of times upon the payment of a renewal fee.

Possessing a good amount of knowledge related to intellectual property could help businesses make the best out of these assets to develop better plans and strategies.

What should you do when you use somebody else’s IP?

Researchers are usually allowed to utilise others’ IP without permission or license, given that they would be using the IP privately only for non-commercial research purposes, or for experimental purposes associated with the invention. However, an infringement can be declared in a case where the research activity finds its way into the commercial field. For instance, a university decides to assign IP rights emerging from a research programme to a random organisation.

Similar situations may arise upon the use of published materials for professional teaching purposes (mainly e-learning). Hence, this would mean infringement, making it important for businesses to understand the dos and don’ts for using protected works or services. A major section of the IP management function is about ensuring that some form of transparency exists between researchers about legal positions and avoiding that any such infringements take place.

Why is IP important?

The nature and magnitude of IP’s benefits on the IP portfolio’s overall size along with the objectives and planning of individual universities. However, almost every university employs and trains many students and staff members who happen to generate IP in their daily activities. This leads to many benefits applicable across the board. In many cases, intellectual property simply means monetary gain. Your business faces quite the risk if you are unaware of how to manage and protect your intellectual property. These risks include:

  • Branding: Your brand elements, ranging from your logo to your company name, including anything that comes in between, can be duplicated and eroded, damaging the perceptions in the market regarding your products, their quality and your reputation.
  • Products: Without proper patenting, you may fail to control and market the products you develop, as the unique investments you made behind such developing technologies may be compromised.
  • Ideas and thought leadership: One of the most significant steps towards succeeding with your company as a market leader is to protect the original contributions to the logics and thinking around your industry. With the help of copyrights, your materials can be properly attributed.

Intellectual property can be found everywhere within a business. Your chosen name could be your trademark, and even the minutest of new processes that one of your employees creates could be patentable. Most of the work your employees carry out can be copyrighted. Hence, in both countries, it becomes significant to understand where and how to register and protect the individual assets of your business effectively.

IP and tech

IP can be of great importance, especially for high-tech organisations. Here, the products manufactured are usually intellectual, starting with a completely virtual concept (in the case of software and applications). Illustrating a specific product’s unique features and complexities depends on whether the product was documented appropriately. It is also essential to have a fully protected IP as the primary requirement for several advanced distribution agreements usually found in tech, including royalties and licensing.

When intellectual property is to be dealt with in a business environment, the true significance of efficiently managing your IP becomes straightforward; intellectual property plays a significant role in the development, marketing, and sales of a firm’s services and products.

It is therefore vital to keep the following points in mind when it comes to the proper commercialisation of a business’s intellectual property:

  • Determining early on the exact location of the intellectual property assets of a company.
  • Giving ample attention to the ownership chain.
  • Coming up with and forcing appropriate policies, processes and agreements to protect and enforce IP.
  • Putting actual values on your intellectual property (contradictory to simply goodwill).

IP in web and software development

Front-end developers and software engineers both create their own “art” when it comes to developing their respective projects, and before the final product is sold to a client, they remain the actual owners of the product. At times, the clients provide some pre-made text, logo or other input to the developers to insert into the project being developed, and these inputs are usually copyrighted. Actual developers copyright all their content, and with the ownership of copyright, additional rights such as rights of use, amendment, adaptation, copying, development, etc., also remain attached.

In the world of software and front-end development, licenses might also be enough to transfer rights from one owner to another. The licenses are based upon agreements between the parties involved and offer partial or complete rights. Hence, a license is also a significant intellectual property in the field of front-end and software development.

Intellectual property in your studies

As far as your studies are concerned, it is imperative not to infringe intellectual property rules. The work you submit in your studies needs to be your own. You are welcome (and encouraged) to look online for ideas and inspiration and read forums like StackOverflow and use websites like MDN and CSS Tricks. You cannot directly copy chunks of code from these sources.

At times there will be only one way to write an HTML tag, so seeing the correct syntax on a website like MDN and using it in your project is completely fine. The main issue is copying unique ideas and concepts and using those in your projects.

If you find yourself using somebody else’s ideas or facts, you should mention them in the references section of your reports. Any paragraphs, sentences or phrases copied in total should be enclosed in quotation marks and once again referenced.

In case of alterations to the copied text, referencing with a number is still mandatory. Using somebody else’s ideas or facts without their knowledge or consent is a serious offence and is punishable. This applies to information taken from the internet. Always credit the websites you have taken information from.

It is important to note that you may not copy and paste anyone’s work and submit it as your own. This applies to answers in reports as well as code in your assignments. All work submitted must be your own. You can, however, use ideas and inspiration from other people, but it has to be recorded in your references.

Creative commons

In your studies, you’re likely to need to find images, fonts and more. Please ensure that you have the correct rights to use the elements you’re submitting. Several websites, such as Unsplash.com and Pixabay.com, offer images in the public domain. While for fonts, websites such as Google Fonts, 1001fonts.com, dafont.com and fontspace.com offer fonts that we can use in our projects. Some can only be used for non-commercial reasons (studying is considered non-commercial, so you can use these, but not for websites for real clients).

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