Legal protection of intellectual creations
Based on legal protection the right holder has an exclusive right to exploit the subject matter of the protection.
Patent is a form of protection for any inventions in any field of technology that are new, i.e. which do not form part of the state of the art, and involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application. A patent can be granted for a product, device, process or use as well, which means that patents are suitable to ensure the legal protection of the whole range of technical solutions.
Utility model protection may be used for any solution relating to the configuration or construction of an article or to the arrangement of parts thereof which do not reach the inventive level required for a patent.
Both for patent and utility model protection the solution should be susceptible of industrial application, that is, it should have the potential to be made or used in any sector of industry or agriculture
Designs can be used for the protection of the appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation.
Plant variety protection ensures the legal protection of improved plant varieties (hybrids, lines, clones etc.). Plant variety protection may be granted to varieties of all botanical genera and species, including hybrids between genera or species, provided they are distinct, uniform, stable and new.
On the basis of the exclusive right of exploitation, the right owner shall be entitled to prevent any person not having his consent from making, using, putting on the market or offering for sale etc. a product which is the subject matter of the above protections.
Trademark is legal protection which serves to identify and distinguish goods and services, helping customers thereby to make more informed decisions. A trade mark may consist of any signs capable of being represented graphically, particularly words, phrases, names, designs, pictures, and their combinations, provided that these are capable of distinguishing goods or services from those of other undertakings, and it can be granted if no absolute or relative grounds for refusal exist.
Geographical indication means the geographical name of a region, locality or, in exceptional cases, a country which serves to designate a product originating therein; the specific quality, reputation or other characteristics of which are attributable essentially to that geographical origin, and the production, processing or preparation of which takes place in the defined geographical area. The protection of a geographical indication shall belong jointly to all persons and companies who produce, process or prepare, in the defined geographical area, a product (if product specifications are a requirement for the protection, then according to those specifications) for which the designation of the geographical indication is used.
The above forms of protection are the result of an application followed by an official examination. Typically, protection shall be requested separately for each country, and the right holder can enforce his rights only in countries where the protection was granted and is effective.
Copyright is an area of intellectual property rights, which regulates the legal protection of the authors of authorial works, i.e. any individual, original creation originating from creative intellectual activity in the fields of literature, science and art. Copyright protection automatically belongs to the author from the moment of the creation of the work and it exists for a specified period of time, without any application or registration, or payment of fees being necessary therefore.
Based on international as well as on bilateral and multilateral agreements, copyright protection is a transboundary right.