Tangible assets like a house, jewellery, currency, investments, vehicles etc are not the only types of property that one can possess and claim protection under the law. There are other kinds of property too which are provided for by law and safeguarded within the legal provisions and these are termed intellectual property, which can be secured against infringement. There are three main types of property which come under this classification: copyrights, trademarks and patents.

Copyright is an intellectual property safeguard that is given by law to an author or any other kind of creator for a unique composition or development. This right may be awarded for music, films, videos and other types of artistic expressions and not only the literary or printed material. Under copyright law, the creator of the work gets several rights which include financial rights to income arising from the work and acceptance as sole owner of that work.

Trademarks afford intellectual property privileges which aim at preventing replication and violation of graphical representations registered by someone for his own products, and they help a customer easily tell the origin of a product. They protect the trademark holders from being financially exploited by counterfeiters.

The last intellectual property right is a patent, which is granted to inventors to protect their unique and useful creations and inventions. Patents are valid for a predetermined period within which the holder can enforce his exclusive right to sale and other commercial use of his invention.

There are some other intellectual property rights too which are less often registered and used. Some examples of other kinds are traditional understanding cultivated by inhabitants of a particular area that is distinctive only to that area; confidential information that include business secrets, for example, KFC’s recipe; and positional indicators that are a variation of trademarks used for merchandise arising from a particular part of the world, for example Champagne.

Though these forms of intellectual property are distinct from each other there are certain commonalities between the three. All three are fully protected by the law and the rightful owner can take legal action to establish his right and claim compensation for any misuse.

Discover more about trademark registration Singapore and discover how does an intellectual property protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.