The number of various types of legal monopolies over creations of mind, both artistic and commercial, and the related fields of law is called Intellectual property (IP). Under intellectual property law, proprietors have exclusive rights to several intangible assets like musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, breakthroughs, and inventions; and words. phrases, symbols, and designs. There are four main kinds of intellectual property – copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.

Copyrights give lawful rights to published and unpublished original creations. They are used to secure the authorship of works like poems, songs, stories, movies etc. By using them, the owner is able to legally guard the expression of an original idea for a stipulated time span, during which only he or she has the right to reproduce it, allow its adaptation, show it to people, or sell it. The owner has an authority over his work for more than 50 years, which is valid even after his death and any infringement of the creation within this period is actionable.

Patents are legal and registered rights that allow creators to stop others from producing or promoting their invention. They are usually applicable to cases such as vital biological discoveries, new theories in science and technological breakthroughs. In most countries, patent protection is available for a restricted period of 20 years and the owner loses his exclusive rights over the invention after the expiry of this period.

Trade secrets are those classified pieces of information that help a company to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. A trade secret can be anything from a tabulation chart to a cooking recipe, or a database containing addresses and phone numbers of high profile clients. In most cases, trade secrets are matters relating to internal management of the company, which do not call for any kind of government interference. The usual way of securing trade secrets is by confining the information to only a few important executives and not everyone, or by depositing it safely in a bank along with other valuable items and papers.

Trademarks cover words, logos or designs that are used in the context of a specific brand or commodity in order to separate it from products of rivals. Trademarks develop a brand identity that helps the consumers recall or identify the manufacturer on noticing the trademark. Generally, a trademark registration holds valid for 10 years after which it has to be renewed.

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Industrial design applies a blend of art and science for improving a product in a way that there is an increase in its commercial value through improved looks and functionality. Such designing can be done before a product is officially launched or later for enhancing the quality of the product.

The main consideration of industrial design is the way in which the customer will perceive the product. It is all about enhancing a product’s value in the mind of the customers and so they associate themselves with the product. Such a result can be achieved by making important additions to the features or the looks of the product, which enables the product to influence the customers to purchase it.

This requires a comprehensive research into the patterns of consumer habits, which can then be taken into account by the designers of the product. This step is then followed by sketching, making models, sampling and comprehensive testing before launch of the product in the market. Nowadays, the designers are increasingly using techniques like 3D software and CAD applications for dealing with these jobs.

Industrial designing essentially concentrates on a product’s overall shape and texture. Designers have to concentrate upon a lot of factors other than the appearance of the product. These include sturdiness, functionality, ergonomics and the convenience of usage of the product. In fact, a designer can also lower the manufacturing costs significantly by making required alterations in the design.

Industrial design has a much larger scope than the aspects already mentioned, as it even extends to things like study of the market for the product, its proper packaging and the consumers’ expected reaction to the product designs. Hence industrial designers go through years of special training prior to working on a real project.

Some of the remarkable names in the field are those of Brooks Stevens, the original designer of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Raymond Loewy, the legendary designer of the Coca-Cola bottle and Jonathan Ive, who has been known for the iMac.

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