Intellectual property rights is a broader term that encompasses copyright, trademarks and patents and trade secrets. The intellectual property rights are then outlined and protected by IP law.
Arturo is correct. Copyrights are intellectual property. Intellectual Property is a broad term encompassing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Copyrights are the exclusive rights that authors have in their original works that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. The two principal conventions protecting copyrights are the Universal Copyright Convention and the Berne Convention. Patents are the rights that patent owners have to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing anything covered by the claims of the patent. The principal convention for protecting patents is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Just to confirm: copyright is one type of intellectual property right. All types of IP have different rules, e.g., on lifetime, the need or not to register, fees, if any, to pay to keep it in force, what tools are available if someone infringes, etc.
Charles,
You are correct in your assessment.
Enforcing IP rights as far as I know is done through monitoring. There are companies that supposedly do it for you but I cannot vouch for quality and trustworthiness.
Monitoring is just one aspect of the enforcement process. One must still get an infringer to stop using your IP without your consent. Cease-and-desist letters, lawsuits, and International Trade Commission investigations are some of the enforcement mechanisms which you may use to enforce your IP rights.
Mark,
You are totally correct on the follow up action. Do you know of any proactive initiative? I only know that you can pursue those actions based on your own monitoring
I would also add that for example, the infringement of US patents due to overseas activities is rather fuzzy in instances such as contract executed overseas and then executing delivery within the US. So protection is very costly if you want to cover all your bases.
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