What is IP?
Intellectual Property (IP) is the property in creations of the mind such as technical inventions and processes, literary, musical and artistic works, software, designs, symbols, names used in business. It is therefore the currency of many creative and innovative sectors.
Every business has IP. In our 37 years experience we have yet to come across a business that has no IP. And those businesses that do own IP have little appreciation of its value and use.
Accordingly, at Kounoupias IP we consider IP to be a business issue not a legal issue.
The subject matter of IP is very wide and provides property ownership in respect of the fruits of creative effort or commercial reputation and goodwill. The law has evolved to ensure that certain products of human creativity should attract similar legal rights to those applying to physical assets.
Some only exist within a national territory, or within a region, (e.g. the EU), others exist all over the world (e.g. as a result of International Treaties such as the TRIPS agreement administered by the World Trade Organisation)
Some are created through EU Directive and Regulations while others have developed over time through case law. Once IP rights have been identified they can be used to value a business, provide a benchmark fee for licensing the IP or as collateral for securing finance.
Some IP rights can be registered, (e.g. patents, trade marks or registered designs). Some are unregistered, (e.g. copyright, trade secrets, unregistered designs).
Intellectual Property:
- Copyrights
- Moral Rights
- Patents
- Trade Marks
- Designs
- Trade secrets
- Database Rights
- Domain Names
Physical Property:
- House, car
- House contents
- Clothes
- Belongings