Intellectual Property Rights are the legal rights given to publishers/Applicants etc to protect their intellectual creations for a specific period of time. It is not given for an infinite period of time as they are produced in public domain for their use after a certain period.
IPR RIGHTS– IPR Rights can't be given for an infinite period of time except for Trademark, basically, IPR's can be renewed after every 10 or 20 Years. As IPR is a negative right so providing IPR for lifelong will further lead to monopolistic practices.
IPR are majorly divided into 4 categories in India.
1. Copy Rights
2.Trademark
3.Patent
4.Design
COPY RIGHT–
Section 22 of the copyright act says that copyright is given for the lifetime of a person and 60 years after the death of the person and once the tenure is expired it is available in the Public Domain means that it can be used and re-used for free by anyone without the permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the altered or translated version can also be copyrighted. once the copyrights are expired there are no rights left with the author or with the legal heirs over the work however limitations acts provide the time of 3 years to institute the suit against copyright infringement if it is infringed before the expiry of copyright.
Trademark- Trademark are the "sign" registered to distinguish the goods or services of one enterprise from that of the other enterprises. Initially, Trademarks are given for 10 years and once the validity of 10 years is lapsed. If the Company or enterprise wishes to continue the business, they can extend the rights over the trademark by the process of renewal. The trademark can be renewed for 'n' number of times but after the lapse of the original registration or of the last renewal of registration, as the case may be. Once the prescribed time is expired before that registrar shall send notice to the registered proprietor in the prescribed manner and conditions as to payment of fees.
Provided that the registrar shall not remove the trademark from the register if the proprietor makes an application with fees including surcharge within 6 months from the date of expiry and where the trademark has been removed from the register the registrar shall restore the trademark once the proprietor fills the application in prescribed manner with prescribed fees and surcharge. Union Of India V. Malhotra Book Depot lapsed trademark can be renewed.
Design- Design are registered for a maximum of 15 years i.e., under section 11(1) fresh application is registered for 10 years the registered proprietor of the design shall be entitled to copyright protection for ten years, Section 11(2) once the design is lapsed design proprietor can extent the design registration for the second time for 5 more years through the process specified in the Design Act 2000. Section 13 of Design act says when design is lapsed after 10 years it can be renewed within 1 year from the date on which it lapsed but the application of renewal of design shall also be attached with an application which shall contain statement in the prescribed manner stating the circumstances which led to delay to pay the prescribed fees. The design after the expiry is available in public domain and once it gets expired the design proprietor has no rights to protect its design unless the design was infringed before the expiry of design and proprietor got to know after the expiry of design then the suit can be filed within 3 years from the date of cause of action.
Patent-Patents are the exclusive rights given for the invention. It is given for invention which are novel and have an inventive step involved in it. Before giving a patent in India three test are to be done for invention to be patentable.
Firstly- The invention be non-obvious.
Second- The invention must be novel.
Third- It must be of industrial usage.
In India Patent are generally given for 20 years and if a patent is expired there is no provision for extension of time beyond the said period, patentee cannot sue for infringement of patent once the patent is expired but there is chance to sue a person even after the expiry of patent if patentee receives the knowledge of patent infringement during the period of 20 years within 3 years from the date of infringement Section 64 Patents Act 1970, Patents also gets expired once it gets revoked on the certain grounds by the court.
1-Patent granted to person who is not entitled in this act
2- Patent was obtained wrongfully
3-Patent claimed is not new
4-Patent claim is not an invention under this act.
5-Patent does not involve any inventive steps
6-Patent is not useful
7-Obtained on false suggestions or representations etc.
| S.No. | FEATURES | PATENT | TRADEMARK | COPYRIGHT | DESIGN |
| 1. | Who seeks protection? | Inventors | Owner of goods or services. | Author of the work | Designer, Inventors |
| 2. | What does it protect? | Inventions which are novel, have been an inventive step and have industrial applicability. | Any name, word, slogan, symbol, design, and/or image that identifies a business or brand | Any original works of authorship, such as books, articles, songs, photographs | Any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture that does not affect the articles functions. |
| 3. | Registration | Necessary, so as to gain the exclusive rights. | Registration is compulsory in India, only/registered marks can use trademark symbol. Though \, India provides a common law remedy of passing off. | Registration is not mandatory, if registered serves as prima facie evidence. | Registration is not mandatory article manufactured with more than 50 pieces ceases to be a copyright. |
| 4. | Duration | 20 years from the date of fillings. | Protection for 10 years can be further renewed | Protection for Author's life+60 years after the death of an author. | Protection for 10 years can be renewed once for 5 years. |
Conclusion– IPR are the instrument that protects the
creations of intellects since it gives exclusive rights to an
applicant for its creation it also gives right to sue if his rights
are infringed and it also takes away the rights once the IPR is
expired.
Rights Over The Intellectual Property Rights After The Lapse And Expiry Of Registration
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.