_The Creative Wealth of Nations_

# _Intellectual property*_

## **<u><mark>||</mark></u>** **<mark>Box 9 || Definitions</mark>**

“Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.”

|**Copyright**|**Patent**|**Trademark**|**Industrial Design**|
|---|---|---|---|
|“Copyright is a legal<br>term used to describe<br>the rights that creators<br>have over their literary<br>and<br>artistic<br>works.<br>Works<br>covered<br>by<br>copyright range from<br>books, music, paintings,<br>sculpture and films, to<br>computer<br>programs,<br>databases,<br>advertisements,<br>maps<br>and<br>technical<br>drawings.”|“A patent is an exclusive<br>right<br>granted<br>for<br>an<br>invention,<br>which<br>is<br>a<br>product or a process that<br>provides, in general, a new<br>way of doing something, or<br>offers a new technical<br>solution to a problem. To<br>get a patent, technical<br>information<br>about<br>the<br>invention<br>must<br>be<br>disclosed to the public in a<br>patent application.”|“A trademark is a sign<br>capable of<br>distinguishing the<br>goods or services of one<br>enterprise from those of<br>other enterprises.<br>Trademarks are<br>protected by intellectual<br>property rights.”|“An<br>industrial<br>design<br>constitutes the ornamental or<br>aesthetic aspect of an article.<br>A design may consist of<br>three-dimensional<br>features,<br>such as the shape or surface<br>of an article, or of two-<br>dimensional features, such as<br>patterns, lines or color.”<sup>136</sup>|

**Source:** WIPO | For length of protection and other aspects, see Appendix. E and here: http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/.

While intellectual property rights are generally viewed as a Western construct, their threads trace back to ancient Egypt. The “roots of intellectual property,” Michael A. Gollin writes, “may be found in the difficult skill of keeping a secret—choosing _not_ to communicate information. The ancient Egyptians’ respect for trade secrets is clear from Stele C-14 of Irtisen, a hieroglyphic tablet from 2000 BCE on display in the Louvre museum.”<sup>137</sup> Along with trade secrets, trademarks also existed in antiquity — “Egyptians branded cattle, Chinese marked their porcelain, and Romans used logos and brand names for stores, lamps, and other products”<sup>138</sup> Christopher May and Susan K. Sell argue that marking items was perhaps the first practice of separating goods: “Marks could indicate reliability and the reputation of the craftsman [or] maker as well as origin. Marking to establish ownership long precedes formalized

> * Broadly speaking, Intellectual Property “means the legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields.” — _WIPO Intellectual Property Handbook: Policy, Law and Use_ , 2nd ed. (World Intellectual Property Organization, 2008), accessed June 2, 2014, <u>http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/freepublications/en/intproperty/489/wipo_pub_489.pdf. Here, by and large,</u> we interact with the term in the scope of artistic works or the performing arts.

> 136 “What Is Intellectual Property?” World Intellectual Property Organization, accessed June 4, 2014, - <u>http://www.wipo.int/about ip/en/.</u>

> 137 Michael A. Gollin, _Driving Innovation: Intellectual Property Strategies for a Dynamic World,_ (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 26-27. | Located at western edge of Paris, the Louvre museum has existed since the 12th century. See History of the Louvre, accessed June 2, 2014, http://www.louvre.fr. 138 Ibid., 28

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