Understanding Intellectual Property

Vocabulary flashcards covering the fundamental types of intellectual property, patent requirements, and legal terminology found in the lecture notes.

Intellectual Property (IP)

The product of the mind, including research findings, new processes, software, and artistic works.

Copyright

Safeguards the original expression of an idea in a material form, granted automatically and lasting for $70$ years after the author’s death.

Patents

A monopoly granted by the government to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for up to $20$ years in exchange for disclosing technical details.

Registered Designs

Protects the novel and distinctive visual features of shape, configuration, pattern, or ornamentation applied to a product for up to $10$ years.

Trade Marks

Signs used to distinguish a trader’s goods and services, which can include words, logos, shapes, colours, scents, movements, or sounds.

Trade Secrets

Proprietary information not publicly available, such as algorithms or formulas, protected using CDAs (Confidential Disclosure Agreements) or NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements).

Novelty

A patent requirement stating the invention must not be identical to any prior art that is publicly known anywhere in the world.

Inventive Step

A patent requirement that the invention must not be an obvious development of something already in existence.

Useful

A patent requirement meaning the invention has a practical application and is capable of being made or used to solve a problem.

Prior Art

Includes documents, acts of use, and other public disclosures available globally before a patent filing used to assess novelty.

Freedom to Operate (FTO)

The ability to carry out research or commercial activities without infringing the legal rights of a third party in a particular country.

Patent Claims

Statements in a patent document that define the specific scope of the legal rights and boundaries of the protection.

Plant Breeders Rights

A specific type of IP protection for new varieties of fruit, plants, flowers, or vines.

Domain Names

Identification strings used for internet addresses, categorized as top level (e.g. .com), generic (e.g. .biz), or country-specific (e.g. .au).