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Property is anything that can be owned by a person. Originally property only applied to things which had a form or substance, for example a dress or a piece of land. Today however a person can own something that cannot be seen or touched e.g. computer software or music.
What is Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is something which results from the activities of a person’s mind- that is, something that comes into being because of the expression of someone’s thoughts.
Examples of intellectual property can be;
Because intellectual Property can vary so much, there are different types of protections (which are referred to as “rights”) that people who create intellectual property are entitled to.
Please click on the type intellectual process you are interested in knowing about how to protect and you shall be directed to the page discussing the intellectual property right it falls under.
Original work is that which has not been copied from another but has been created by the author. This does not mean however that the thought must be original, only that the work should not have been done before.
For example; if singer Bigsize told singer Smallsize about an idea for a song that he has and Bigsize does not record the song but instead Smallsize records and releases it, no matter how angry Bigsize becomes and how fair it may seem, Smallsize who actually recorded the song is the one who has a right in the intellectual property.
This means that in order for work to be considered original it must be reduced into material form and there must be no other work existing before it which is the same. Always remember ideas are not protected, only works are.
The time of protection varies depending on the nature of the work, however, general protection is for the life time of the author and fifty years after the death of the author.
Any person who is involved in the process of making a work, not being the author is referred to as an auxiliary and as such does not have the copyright protection in entirety- what such a person has, is referred to as neighbouring rights. other persons are called auxiliaries and include the following. Please click on one most relevant to the information you want.
Mugisha Robert, someone was supposed to pay him money
Once you have reduced your idea into material form then, how do you secure the protection of a copyright?
It is important to note that where there is a copyright, there are different types of protection, the nature of the protection varying in relation to the degree of participation a person has in relation to creating the works. For example, where Bigsize sings music, there may be back-up singers, a producer who reduces the music to material form, a promoter who ensures that people get to hear and the music, a distributer who sells the music etc.
Copyright protection is an automatic entitlement of any work which has been reduced to material form (if it is a book this means being written, if it is a song this means being recorded etc).
One thing that is unique to Copyright law, is that once work which qualifies for copyright protection is published, it is protected under the law. This means that one does not need to do anything formal in order to be copyright protected. The problem with not formerly registering your copyright however is that if it is infringed upon by another person, then you have got to prove you have got a copyright to the works which including proving that it was published before the infringement occurred and also that the other party used your works to create the infringing work.
HOW LONG COPYRIGHT PROTECTION LASTS
A trademark can simply be explained to mean a sign or mark or combination of signs or marks which can be represented graphically (this means they can be put down on paper) and capable of distinguish goods and services of one business from those of another.
The words “sign or mark” include any word, symbol, design, slogan, logo, sound, smell, colour, brand label, name, signature, letter, numeral or any combination of these which can be represented graphically
By virtue of being defined as above, it means that you can have a trademark which is not registered. For example, if your business has got a logo that is not registered as its trademark- it is still a trademark. However, as you will go on to discover- it is best to always register your trademark as soon as possible, which we explain in more detail later.
This means therefore- that
A trademark protects goods (goods are things you can touch and see- for example bananas and pens are goods); a service mark protects services (for example, MTN, Airtel, Smart Telecom, UTL among others are service providers in the telecommunications industry) services are basically things that are of value but cannot be touched or physically seem, for example you cannot see airtime, but you load it on your phone.
WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR REGISTERING A TRADEMARK?
There are also trademarks which will not be registered. These include
Once you meet the requirements above, you can fill in the application form. You may use the guide we have provided to help you.
It is important to keep in mind that some trademarks will not be registered wholly or in part and they include trademarks that are;
There are two parts of the Trademarks Registry, and it is these two parts under which a person can register a Trademark
Granting someone else the right to utilise a trademark is called assignment. When you assign a trademark to someone else, you can also sell the goodwill of the business. What you need to do is to write a deed of assignment and register it with the Registrar.
Fortunately, we have got a guide of the transfer form and also a sample of the deed of assignment for you below.
In order to have remedies where your trademark is infringed, it MUST BE A REGISTERED TRADEMARK. If your trademark is not registered then you may not be entitled to these remedies.
Where your trademark is being infringed upon you have got remedies which include suing the infringing person for;
A patent can be said to be an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
The patent owner has the exclusive right to prevent or stop others from commercially using or developing the patented invention. In other words, the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported or sold by others without the patent owner’s consent.
An invention is a solution to a specific problem in the field of technology. In order to be able to apply for a patent, the invention must fulfil certain requirements:
In order for an invention to be eligible for patent protection, the applicant must ensure that the invention falls within the scope of patentable subject matter. The general rule is that patent protection shall be available for inventions in all fields of technology however, there are exceptions which includes the following:
Patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.
Patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.
Patents are territorial rights. This means that it is only in the country you register a patent that it is protected. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.
Therefore if you want your patent to be protected in another Country for example Kenya, you will need to register it in Uganda first, and then at the East African Intellectual Property offices
Patent rights are usually enforced in a court on the initiative of the right owner. In most systems a court of law has the authority to stop patent infringement. However the main responsibility for monitoring, identifying, and taking action against infringers of a patent lies with the patent owner.
In order to establish infringement, the PATENT MUST BE REGISTRED and you must also prove the following:
Where your patent is being infringed upon you have got remedies which include suing the infringing person for;
It is important to note that there are some exceptions to infringements. This applies if the acts are done:
A patent owner can grant permission to another individual/organization to make, use, sell etc. his/her patented invention. This is called licensing a. This takes place according to agreed terms and conditions (for example, defining the amount and type of payment to be made by the licensee to the licensor), for a defined purpose, in a defined territory, and for an agreed period of time.
Similar to patents, utility models protect new technical inventions through granting a limited exclusive right to prevent others from commercially using protected inventions without the consent of the right holders. The requirements of novelty and industrial applicability also apply to utility models, sometimes referred to as petty patents. There are however some differences between the two. The requirements for acquiring utility models are less stringent than for patents. Protection for utility models is often sought for innovations of a rather incremental character which may not meet the patentability criteria. Furthermore, the term of protection for utility models is shorter than for patents, and varies from country to country (usually between 6 and 15 years). The registration process is often simpler and faster, sometimes taking six months or less. Fees for obtaining and maintaining utility models are cheaper.
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