Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are legal protections for creators’ original works, inventions, or product designs.

Patents protect new inventions for 20 years. Trademarks safeguard brand identifiers like logos and names indefinitely with renewal. Copyrights secure creative works like books, music, and software for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years. Trade secrets cover confidential business information indefinitely as long as secrecy is maintained.

Patents examples: new machinery, medical devices, software algorithms. Trademarks examples: Coca-Cola logo, Apple name, Nike swoosh. Copyrights examples: novels, films, computer programs. Trade secrets examples: recipe for Coca-Cola, Google’s search algorithm, KFC’s chicken recipe.