What are Intellectual Property Rights? ("IPR's")
The main types of IPR's are Patents, Trade Marks, Registered Designs and Copyright. These are well established rights that date back in some cases, hundreds of years. Contrasted against these more traditional rights are those recently created rights of Circuit Layout Protection and Plant Breeders Rights.

The concepts of Confidential Information, Trade Secrets and Restraints of Trade are often discussed in conjunction with IPR's. Whilst they are not rights in information per se, the available remedies can be used to prevent the disclosure and use and proprietary information.

Why are IPR's valuable?
IPR's are valuable. Most IPR's protect your creative and/or technological efforts from being copied by others by providing you with a legal monopoly for a certain period of time. Keeping others out of the market can be of significant commercial advantage to the holder of the IPR.

Do I need to be granted IPR's or are they mine automatically?
The answer to this question will depend on what IPR is being sought and in what country you are interested in.

In Australia, patents, trade marks and registered designs need to be applied for and registered with IP Australia before any rights can be claimed or asserted.

Other IPR's, such as copyright, are automatic and exist by virtue of certain events having taken place, such as the first publication of a literary work taking place in Australia. Other rights to information arise automatically in certain situations such as an employer/employee situation involving confidential information and trade secrets.

In other cases, contract law and agreements made between parties can establish certain rights. For example the duty to maintain confidentiality can also arise by virtue of an agreement made between the discloser and the recipient of the confidential information.

I'm not sure what form of IPR's are most appropriate for my circumstances?
This is a very common problem. It does not help that there is a significant degree of overlap between the various rights.

In some cases it may be that protection could be obtained in respect of two or more IPR's. In other cases the opposite may be the true and proceeding with the wrong type of protection, could result in effectively no protection. This is particularly a concern in the area of the overlap between registered designs and copyright.

Helping you decide which IPR's to protect your creative endeavour is but one way in which the staff at Maxwells are able to assist you in negotiating the complex IP landscape.