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Direction (Q. 1 - 8) : Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.
Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programmes.
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to problem. In order to be patentable, the invention must fulfil certain conditions.
A patent provides protection for the invention to the owner of the patent. The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years.
Patent protection means mat the mvention cannot oe commercia lv made. used, distributed or sold without the patent owner's consent. These patent rights are usually enforced in a court, which, in most systems, holds the authority to stop patent infringement. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.
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. The patent owner may give permission, or license, to other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner my 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 the owner no longer holds exclusive rights to the invention, which becomes available to commercial exploitation by others.
Patents provide incentives to individuals by offering them recognition for their creativity and material reward for their marketable inventions. These incentives encourage innovation, which assures that the quality ofhuman life is continuously enhanced.
Patented inventions have, in fact, pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting (patents held by Edison and Swan) and plastic (patents held by Baekeland), to ballpoint pens (patents held by Biro) and microprocessors (patents held by Intel, for example).
All patent owners are obliged, in return for patent protection, to publicly disclose information on their invention in order to enrich the total body of technical knowledge in the world. Such an ever-increasing body of public knowledge promotes further creativity and innovation in others.
What do you mean by patent ?
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