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Image right

This is the exclusive right that enables anyone to decide on the recording, dissemination or publication of one’s own image, as well as the right to prevent others from doing so without authorisation.

Territoriality

Intellectual property rights are, by nature, territorial. This means that they are usually regulated at national level by each country and that protection is granted only within the country’s borders.

Trade secret

Trade secrets are industrial property rights that protect confidential information and can be sold or licensed. For the information to be considered as a trade secret, it needs to be commercially valuable, known only by a limited number of people, and the company that holds the information needs to take reasonable steps to keep it secret. The most famous example of trade secret is the Coca Cola recipe.

Copyright

Copyright refers to the rights of a creator over his/her literary and artistic creations: books, music, paintings, sculptures, movies… It also refers to the rights of creators over software, databases, maps and technical drawings.

Designs

An industrial design protects the ornamental aspect or the aesthetics of a product. Designs can apply to a wide variety of products: watches, jewellery, household appliances, vehicles…

Utility Models

A utility model is also an exclusive right over an invention. But, unlike patents, it only protects minor improvements of already existing products, or adaptations of said products.

Patents

A patent is an exclusive right over an invention that enables the right holder to decide who can use the invention and how.

Trade marks

A trade mark is a sign that allows consumers to differentiate a company’s products or services from the ones of its competitors. A trade mark can be a word, numbers, drawings, symbols, sounds, smells and even colours.

Intellectual property rights

are private legal rights that protect the creation of the human mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in trade. They are commonly divided into two categories: Industrial Property rights (e.g. patents, trade marks, industrial designs…) and Copyright and Related rights (e.g. rights of authors/creators and those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programmes).