Law protects the Creativity
—Contributed by Deepak Miglani(Legal Buddy)
Creativity is one of the edifices of the human development. It bestows lead to path of our development. Society will remain static without creative activities. Our mind is creative and always works. People have invented many inventions due to creative power they have and to fulfill their needs or the needs of the society. We can very well imagine that if no inventions would have been invented then what would have been our life. I think we would have not come out from the Stone Age.
It is required to protect the creativity. Therefore, the Governments of different countries have passed various laws to protect the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the people under the provisions of different Laws, some these IPRs are explained herein below.
The Patent
A patent is a monopoly right granted to an inventor/applicant who invented a new and useful product or process involving an inventive step. An improvement in an existing product/article or a process of making an article/product can be treated as an invention if it fulfills criteria of an invention. The monopoly rights comprises exclusive rights to manufacture and sell a patented product and to stop others from manufacturing and selling the patented product for the life time (20 years) of the product. After expiry of the life time/duration of the patent, any body can make use of the invention/patent. Before amendment in the Patent Act in 2005 a process for preparing drug or food products were allowed to be patented, but now products itself can be patent. The Patent Amendment Act 2005 was passed to meet India's dead line, 31 December, 2004, to comply with the TRIPS agreement. The object of granting a patent is to encourage the people to do R & D so as to develop new technologies which may help establishing new industries.
The Industrial Design
Those who wish to purchase an article for use are often influenced in their choice not only by practical utility and efficiency but also by appearance. The law to protect designs was governed by the Design Act 1911 which has now been amended and known as the Designs Act 2000. The object of design registration is to see that the originator of a new/novel design is not deprived of his reward by others applying it to their goods without his permission. It should be noted that a design is registered under the provisions of the Designs Act for the outer ornamental configuration of an item. A design in order to be registrable must be both new and original not previously published in India and elsewhere.
Trade Mark
A Trade Mark is visual symbol in the form of a word , a device or a label applied to articles of commerce with a view to indicate to the purchasing public that they are the goods manufactured or services provided or otherwise dealt in by a particular person/company to distinguished from similar goods manufactured or services or otherwise dealt in by other persons/companies. The state law of trade marks in India till now was governed by The Trade and Merchandise Marks Act 1958. This act has been amended and now known as "The Trade Marks Act 1999".
It may be noted that a Patent, registered Designs and Copyright are protected for a limited period, but a registered trade mark is protected in perpetuity subject to the conditions that it is used and renewed periodically and the registered proprietor takes prompt action against infringers.
Copyright.
In ancient times creative writers, musicians and artist wrote, composed or made their works mainly for fame and recognition rather than to earn a living or make profits, but scenario has been changed. Writers, Musicians Artist are now a days work for profits and fame and recognition, as well. The copy right law protects the creativity of these persons. The copyright does not protect an idea, but it protects the way the idea has been expressed. The Copyright subsists in certain classes of works, some of these are as follows;
Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.
Cinematograph films.
Sound recordings, etc
Literary work includes computer programme, tables, complications including computer database. Copyright are governed by the Copy Right Act,1957. Sometimes these terms get used inte rchangeably by the general public, but these two areas of law protect different forms of creativity. The Copyright Act protects all creative expressions except for slogans, names, titles, and short phrases and the Trade Mark Act protects slogans, names, titles, and short phrases. To qualify as a trademark, the item at issue (name, logo, etc.) must meet some minimum levels of distinctiveness. The distinctiveness analysis is beyond the scope of this article and is a good topic to discuss with an attorney experienced in the trademark laws.
Geographical Indications.
Geographical Indications of Goods are defined as that aspect of industrial property which relates to the geographical area indication referring to a country or to a place being the country or place of origin of that product. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to the fact of its origin in that defined geographical locality, region or country. The Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 has been enacted to protect the geographical indications.
Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act 2001
In view of the ever increasing population all over the world, the necessity for increasing agricultural production has been very important. This can be made possible only by inventing new varieties of high yielding and quality plants/products. Creation of such varieties has become possible by scientific research which involves expenditure of money, labour and intellectual effort. The above Act has been passed for fulfilling this purpose.
Please note that ignorance of Law is not an excuse in Law. Intellectual Property Laws are contributing a lot in the protection of creativity. An idea is the first step to invent and create some thing new, but mere idea is not protected by any Law. To protect an ides it should be reduced in a tangible/physical form.
For any query:-
