Occurs when you sell or bequeath your IP rights to someone else.
Attorney
Patent and trade mark attorneys are experienced professionals who can assist clients to protect and exploit their IP rights.
Automatic Rights
Come into effect at the moment of creation. No formal registration is necessary to protect these IP rights. In Australia, copyright and circuit layout rights are automatic rights.
Circuit Layout Rights
A name under which a business operates. Business name registration provides a means of identifying the owners of the business and is obtained under state and territory legislation. Registration of a business name does not provide proprietary rights.
Business name
Automatically protect original layout designs for integrated circuits, and computer chips.While these rights are based on copyright law principles they are a separate, unique form of protection.
Commercialisation
Commercialisation of IP is simply about planning how you will take your good idea to the marketplace. It involves working the idea into your business plan, consideration of protection options and considering how to market and distribute the finished product.
Confidential Information
Information and materials of commercial or personal value and kept secret from the general public.
Confidentiality Agreement
Is an agreement between a person possessing confidential information and the person to whom that confidential information will be disclosed?
Copyright
Protects the original expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. It is free and automatically safeguards your original works of art, literature, music, films, broadcasts and computer programs from copying and certain other uses.
Design
The features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation which can be judged by the eye in finished products. Design registration is for manufactured products and NOT artistic designs. In other words, registered designs protect the way manufactured products look.
Design Registration
Registration is not automatic and must be applied for through IP Australia. See 'design'.
Domain Name
The unique name that corresponds with an Internet Protocol address. It is both easy an intuitive to remember. For example, IP Australia's domain name is
www.ipaustralia.gov.au
(.gov = government, .au = Australia).
Industrial Property
A subset of intellectual property, referring to those types of intellectual property that has an industrial application. Specifically, it refers to patents, trade marks, designs, circuit layout rights and plant breeder's rights.
Infringement
Occurs when someone willingly or unwillingly uses your intellectual property without your permission.
Intellectual Property (IP)
IP represents the property of your mind or intellect. Types of intellectual property include patents, Trade marks, designs, confidential information/trade secrets, copyright, circuit layout rights, plant breeder's rights etc.
International Patent Application (PCT)
An International Application with the Patent Office of IP Australia under the PCT (Patent Co-operation Treaty). In your application, you should select the countries in which you want to apply for a patent.
Inventive Step
The invention is not obvious to someone with knowledge and experience in the technological field of the invention.
Licensing of Rights
Gives the licensee the right to use (but not own) the rights.
New
Not publicly disclosed in any form, anywhere in the world.
Patent
A right granted for any device, substance, method or process, which is new and inventive and useful. A patent granted in Australia provides the owner with exclusive rights to prohibit others from manufacturing, using or selling an invention in Australia.
Patent Grant
Grant of a patent is not automatic; you must apply through IP Australia.
Plant Breeder's Rights
Used to protect new varieties of plants by giving exclusive commercial rights to market a new variety or its reproductive material.
Registered rights
Include patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights. Each registered right gives the owner certain enforceable rights, depending on the type of protection.
Trade Mark
Can be a letter, number, word, phrase, sound, smell, shape, colour, logo, picture, aspect of packaging or any combination of these, which is used to distinguish goods and services of one trader from those of another.
Trade Mark Registration
Registration is not compulsory or automatic. To register, an application must be made through IP Australia.
Trade Secret
Both a type of IP and a strategy for protecting your IP. It includes proprietary knowledge (know-how) and other confidential information.
