Page 365 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| P racy and Intellectual Property

PrivaTizing iDEas
There are five basic types of IP that fall into two categories. Industrial prop-
erty rights are established through laws governing patents, trademarks, trade
secrets, and industrial designs, while copyright laws govern the ownership and
exchange of creative and artistic expressions that circulate more broadly in a
society. There are also other forms of IP protection that do not fit into these
categories, such as the registration of Internet domain names, geographical in-
dications such as Kona coffee and Bordeaux wine, the layout of integrated cir-
cuits, and plant breeders’ rights. Though the duration of legal protection varies
by type and by country, minimum international standards have been established
for members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Patents are granted to the inventor of a new product or process deemed to be
practical and novel. When a patent expires, the invention enters the public domain
and can be freely used and commercially exploited by anyone. Companies often
attempt to extend legal protection by altering a product or offering it for a “novel”
purpose. For example, in 2001 pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly lost a protracted legal
battle to maintain exclusive rights to their most valuable product—Prozac—by
repatenting it for a new use.

TraDEmarks

Trademarks are distinctive signs—ranging from combinations of letters,
numbers, and words, to visual symbols, sounds, shapes, colors, and fragrances—
that link a particular product or service to a specific business. McDonald’s
Golden Arches are a trademark, the word “Kleenex” is trademarked by the
Kimberley-Clark company, and UPS holds a trademark on a particular shade
of brown.

inDusTriaL DEsign righTs
Industrial design rights protect the aesthetic value of nonutilitarian designs
with original and unique visual appeal. Shapes, patterns, ornaments, and config-
urations can be considered IP as they are applied to clothes, fashion accessories,
jewelry, cars, furniture, appliances, packaging—just about any manufactured
good. The shape and layout of cell phones such as Motorola’s RAZR and Apple’s
iPhone are examples of protected industrial design rights.

TraDE sECrETs

Trade secrets are forms of information that have economic value only if they
remain secret. The recipe for Coca-Cola is a trade secret, as is the secret sauce
in Big Macs. But the range of protections is vast: formulas, compounds, proto-
types, processes, calculations, analytical data, sales and marketing information,
customer lists, financial information, and business plans are only some of the
possible forms of information that can be protected as trade secrets.