When an individual, team, company, or other enterprise creates something unique, it is important to protect their intellectual property rights from infringement or theft. Whether this creation is an invention, a brand, a novel, or a formula, there are specific ways to accomplish this goal. In addition to patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are the different ways in which intellectual property is protected. Since patents are applied for on a regular basis in a variety of industries, they will be briefly discussed below.
Different Types of Patents
There are a variety of criteria that need to be met in order to obtain a patent. If the intellectual property is an invention, for example, it needs to meet these three:
- Usefulness
- Novelty
- Non-obviousness
