Editing Intellectual property (section)

==Rights==
Intellectual property rights include [[patent]]s, [[copyright]], [[industrial design right]]s, [[trademark]]s, [[plant variety rights]], [[trade dress]], [[geographical indication]]s,<ref>[http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/text.jsp?file_id=288514 Article 1(2) of the Paris Convention]: "The protection of industrial property has as its object patents, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, trade names, indications of source or appellations of origin, and the repression of unfair competition."</ref> and in some jurisdictions [[trade secret]]s. There are also more specialized or derived varieties of ''[[sui generis]]'' exclusive rights, such as circuit design rights (called [[mask work]] rights in the US), [[supplementary protection certificate]]s for pharmaceutical products (after expiry of a patent protecting them), and [[database right]]s (in [[European law]]). The term "industrial property" is sometimes used to refer to a large subset of intellectual property rights including patents, trademarks, industrial designs, utility models, service marks, trade names, and geographical indications.<ref>{{cite web|title=Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property|url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/index.html|website=Wipo|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711050507/http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/index.html|archive-date=11 July 2014|access-date=25 September 2018}}</ref>

===Patents===
{{Main|Patent}}
A patent is a form of right granted by the government to an inventor or their successor-in-title, giving the owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell, and importing an [[invention]] for a limited period of time, in exchange for the public disclosure of the invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem, which may be a product or a process, and generally has to fulfill three main requirements: it has to be [[novelty (patent)|new]], [[inventive step and non-obviousness|not obvious]] and there needs to be an [[industrial applicability]].<ref name="WIPO Handbook Ch 2">[http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/about-ip/en/iprm/pdf/ch2.pdf WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use. Chapter 2: Fields of Intellectual Property Protection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520221306/http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/about-ip/en/iprm/pdf/ch2.pdf |date=20 May 2013 }} WIPO 2008</ref>{{rp|17}} To enrich the body of knowledge and to stimulate innovation, it is an obligation for patent owners to disclose valuable information about their inventions to the public.<ref name="wipo.int">{{Cite web |title=What is Intellectual Property? |url=http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/intproperty/450/wipo_pub_450.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111222349/https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/intproperty/450/wipo_pub_450.pdf |archive-date=11 November 2020 |access-date=1 September 2022}}</ref>

===Copyright===
{{Main|Copyright}}
A copyright gives the creator of an original work [[exclusive right]]s to it, usually for a limited time. Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or "works".<ref name="Intellectual Property and Information Wealth: Copyright and related rights">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tgK9BzcF5WgC&q=statute+of+anne+copyright|title=Intellectual Property and Information Wealth: Copyright and related rights|page=346|author=Peter K, Yu|isbn=978-0-275-98883-8|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/909/wipo_pub_909.pdf|title=Understanding Copyright and Related Rights|author=World Intellectual Property Organisation|publisher=WIPO|page=8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606013942/http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/909/wipo_pub_909.pdf|archive-date=6 June 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=1 August 2008}}</ref> Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed.<ref name="Art and copyright">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-XBqKIryaQC&q=idea-expression+dichotomy|title=Art and copyright|pages=48–49|author=Simon, Stokes|isbn=978-1-84113-225-9|year=2001|publisher=Hart Publishing}}</ref>

===Industrial design rights===
{{Main|Industrial design right}}
An industrial design right (sometimes called "design right" or ''design patent'') protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three-dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. Generally speaking, it is what makes a product look appealing, and as such, it increases the commercial value of goods.<ref name="wipo.int"/>

===Plant varieties===
{{Main|Plant breeders' rights}}
Plant breeders' rights or plant variety rights are the rights to commercially use a [[Plant variety (law)|new variety of a plant]]. The variety must, amongst others, be novel and distinct and for registration the evaluation of propagating material of the variety is considered.

===Trademarks===
{{Main|Trademark}}
A trademark is a recognizable [[sign (semiotics)|sign]], [[design]] or [[idiom|expression]] that distinguishes a particular trader's [[goods|products]] or [[Service (economics)|services]] from similar products or services of other traders.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trademark, Patent, or Copyright?|url=http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/definitions.jsp|date=13 December 2015|work=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]|publisher=[[Department of Commerce]]|url-status=dead|access-date=23 November 2015|archive-date=13 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213072252/http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/basics/definitions.jsp}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-about/t-whatis.htm|quote=A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors (you may refer to your trade mark as your "brand"). |access-date=22 December 2012|title=What is a trade mark (or brand)? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703105213/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-about/t-whatis.htm |archive-date=3 July 2012|work=[[Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)|Intellectual Property Office]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patentamt.de/english/trade_marks/index.html|quote=Trade marks identify the goods and services of particular traders |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129082624/http://www.patentamt.de/english/trade_marks/index.html |archive-date=29 November 2014|date=28 November 2014 |access-date=28 March 2019|work=[[Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt]]|title=Trade Marks}}</ref>

===Trade dress===
{{Main|Trade dress}}
Trade dress is a legal term of art that generally refers to characteristics of the visual and aesthetic appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the design of a building) that signify the source of the product to consumers.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert P.|last1=Merges|first2=Peter S.|last2=Menell|first3=Mark A.|last3=Lemley|title=Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age|edition=4th rev.|year=2007|location=New York|publisher=Wolters Kluwer|isbn=978-0-7355-6989-8|page=29}}</ref>

===Trade secrets===
{{Main|Trade secret}}
A trade secret is a [[formula]], practice, process, [[design]], instrument, [[pattern]], or compilation of [[information]] which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a [[business]] can obtain an economic advantage over competitors and customers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=trade secret |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/trade_secret |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |language=en |quote="The UTSA defines a 'trade secret' as: Information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process that: Derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and Is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Trade secrets in the EU: What is protected? |url=https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/running-business/intellectual-property/trade-secrets/index_en.htm |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=Your Europe |language=en |quote="If you possess valuable information on technology or on any other aspect of your business, you can protect it as a trade secret if the following conditions are met: the information is not known either by the public at large or by the experts of the sector in question[,] the information has commercial value[, and] you have taken steps to keep the information secret: for example, you keep it in safe storage and you have signed non-disclosure agreements with anyone that has access to it or with whom you have shared the information"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WIPO Guide to Trade Secrets and Innovation - Part III: Basics of trade secret protection |url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/wipo-guide-to-trade-secrets-and-innovation/en/part-iii-basics-of-trade-secret-protection.html |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=WIPO Guide to Trade Secrets and Innovation |language=en |quote="In general, trade secrets are confidential information, which is: not generally known among, or accessible to, the persons in the relevant business sector (“secrecy”)[,] commercially valuable because it is secret, and subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret, such as the use of confidentiality agreements for business partners."}}</ref>

Trade secrets are protected by a combination of state and federal laws,{{Globalize inline|US|date=March 2025}} which prescribe a combination of civil and criminal penalties for trade secret “misappropriation”—the improper acquisition, disclosure, or use of a trade secret.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zirpoli |first=Christopher |date=January 27, 2023 |title=An Introduction to Trade Secrets Law in the United States |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12315 |archive-url= |access-date=March 4, 2025 |website=Congresstional Research Service}}</ref>

Examples of trade secrets include [[Coca-Cola]]'s formulas for its soft drinks and the [[WD-40 Company]]'s formula for its lubricant [[WD-40]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blank |first1=Jennifer |title=Trade secret protection in the United States |url=https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OPIATradeSecret.pdf |website=U.S. Patent and Trademark Office |publisher=USPTO, Office of Policy and International Affairs |access-date=February 13, 2025}}</ref>