Intellectual Property, Franchising & Technology

Patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets are all examples of intellectual property rights. All of these topics are similar in that they all deal with protecting intellectual assets but they are highly different in other respects.

Copyright: Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as literary, artistic, and musical creations. This includes books, music, paintings, photographs, and software. Copyright gives the creator exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display their work.

Trademarks: Trademarks are symbols, names, or distinctive signs that identify and distinguish goods or services of one party from those of others. They can include logos, brand names, and slogans. Trademarks are essential for brand recognition and protection against unauthorised use by competitors.

Patents: Patents protect inventions, granting inventors exclusive rights to their creations for a certain period. This can include processes, machines, compositions of matter, and improvements thereof. Patents encourage innovation by providing inventors with the opportunity to benefit financially from their discoveries.

Trade Secrets: Trade secrets are confidential and proprietary information that gives a business a competitive advantage. This can include formulas, processes, customer lists, and other confidential information that provides economic value to a company. Unlike patents, trade secrets do not have a set duration and can be protected indefinitely as long as they remain secret.

Intellectual property (IP) is the exclusive knowledge or property of your mind. If you create a new product, service, process, or concept, it is your intellectual property (IP). IP rights give creators the time and opportunity to commercialise their work.

Examples of Intellectual property include but are not limited to:

• Patents
• Domain Names
• Industry design
• Confidential Information
• Inventions
• Moral entitlements
• Database permissions
• Books

The Australian government and the country’s common law both guarantee protection for IP owners. Australia also participates in international agreements and conventions, such as the Berne Convention and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to provide global protection for intellectual property.