Kinds of Intellectual Property

by Alvin J. Buenaventura for The Living Letter, a column published in Perlas ng Silangan Balita, a weekly newspaper in Cavite.

According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) booklet on IP, intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

There are two kinds of IP: industrial property and copyright. Under the industrial property, you will find patent, trademark or servicemark, industrial designs and geographical indications. Under copyright, you will find literary and artistic works.

Products and processes that were discovered or invented give solution or answer to questions or problems that bug the common people. The government gives protection to these products and services. It protects inventions. The protection is called patent.

For example, the washing machine was perceived as the solution to tons of laundry clothes. The process or the formula to make a tube of skin ointment was the solution to gross skin problems like hadhad.

Only the inventor has the right to decide which individuals or company may manufacture or produce his/her product or process. The inventor owns the patent. He/she may complain or file a case against people who were not authorized to manufacture, use or sell his/her product or process.

It was the industrial design that give the appearance of a product. More often than not, it would be the appearance or the unique design of a product that affects the sales dearly. Only the owner of the industrial designs has the right to use or give authorization to use his/her design to other products.

Product brands are called trademark. For the service brand, it is service mark. The marks can be words, numbers, insignia, colors, containers, logo, wrappers or packaging, and others. They introduce to the market the uniqueness of a service or product.

For example, the red bee with the name Jollibee is a brand that is owned by the popular fast food chain. This name can never be used by others who sell hamburgers and fried chicken without the permission of the Jollibee Company.

To those who always send money to the province, you will easily recognize another example of servicemark in the letters LBC and its slogan “HaringPadala.”

When a place becomes popular for its produce or products, it becomes the best example for geographical indications. The champagne, a kind of expensive wine, comes only from Champagne, a region in France. This situation is called geographical indications.

The right of an author to produce more than one copy of his/her literary, scientific or artistic work is called copyright. But copyright isn’t just one single right. It is a bundle of rights. These rights are granted to the authors/creators by the law.

IP is very important in everyone’s life and in the economy of a country. We will discuss more about the essence of IP on our next issue.

Authors, publishers or heirs of copyright owners are invited to join FILCOLS. We will help you protect your copyright over your works. To join, one only needs to have published works, or one needs to be the heirs of an author or has the right to manage the rights of an author. Membership is free. If you have queries, email us at filcols@gmail.com.


Translated from Filipino by Beverly W. Siy.