Intellectual Property Overview

Study Notes

IP encompasses any intellectual creation legally protected from unauthorized use by others. Inventions, literary works, symbols, and commercial images fall under this definition.

Patents: Grant exclusive rights to prevent others from using, making, or selling an invention for a set period (typically 20 years). They require a disclosure of the invention to the public.
Utility Models: Similar to patents but with a shorter term and simpler process. Cover new inventions.
Copyrights: Protect original creative or artistic works, such as literary, musical, and dramatic works, and certain other intellectual works. Copyright exists automatically in many jurisdictions.
Trademarks: Distinctive identifying marks for goods or services, enabling consumers to distinguish products.
Registered Designs: Cover the external appearance of a product. Protects the visual aspects of the product.
Trade Secrets: Valuable confidential information, not publicly known, protected by reasonable efforts to keep it secret.

The module covers three main debates. These surround bioeconomy innovation systems,
- Intellectual property and patents
- The Regulatory Framework for Intellectual Property Rights in the EU
- The use of patent data as indicators of innovation

An Indian company filed an international patent application for a solvent-free cholesterol extraction method from milk fat.
RNAagri, an American startup, received patents related to RNAi technology.
CRISPR technology involved legal disputes between organizations over who first patented the technology.
Apple patented a shopping bag, highlighting the varying propensities to patents in different industries.
Arctic apple, a modified apple variety, was patented for its process of maintaining freshness after slicing.
Pfizer and Moderna were in legal battles about ownership of certain biotechnological inventions.

Patents are contracts between the patent applicant (inventor) and the state.
Applicants are given exclusive rights to prevent others from using, making, or selling their patented invention for a limited time period.
In exchange for this monopoly-like protection, inventors must disclose their inventions to the public.
Patents are not granted for everything. Methods of treatment, diagnostic procedures, business methods, and certain forms of genetic material cannot be patented in all countries.

Patents protect new inventions—solving existing technical problems and addressing new needs. They cover tangible inventions like chemical compounds, devices, processes, and systems.
Patents must be original (new/ novel). They are different from discoveries. Discoveries, though valuable findings, are not patentable unless they are altered or applied in a new way.
Novelty requirements vary across different jurisdictions.

Patent rights are negative, essentially preventing others from exploiting the invention.
Patents are not necessarily enabling rights, meaning they do not specify how to make the invention.

Legally binding contracts that protect confidential information/trade secrets during collaborations or transactions.

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