Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) GlossaryThis glossary was produced by the Engineering Subject Centre at Loughborough University and released as an open educational resource through the Intellectual Property Rights For Educational Environments (IPR4EE) project of the University College Falmouth. The IPR4EE project is funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER Phase II programme.

The glossary is based upon information obtained from www.ipo.gov.uk and is reproduced following the terms of the Open Government Licence, Intellectual Property Office © Crown copyright 2010.

Term Definition

Assignment A transfer of ownership, all rights are granted to another party.

Copyright © Copyright does not protect ideas for a work. It is only when the work itself is fixed, for example in writing, that copyright automatically protects it. This means that you do not have to apply for copyright.

Copyright can protect:

• literary works, including novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database;

• dramatic works, including dance or mime;• musical works;• artistic works, including paintings, engravings,

photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos;

• layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work, for a book for instance;

• recordings of a work, including sound and film; and

• broadcasts of a work.You should only copy or use a work protected by copyright with the copyright owner's permission.

Copyright works are protected across most mediums - so if they're protected in one, they're probably protected in others. It may then be copyright infringement if you create a painting from someone else's photograph or make a sound recording of someone else's book without their permission.

A work must satisfy a minimal requirement in order to attract copyright protection, for example single words or phrases would not attract copyright.

Database Rights A database, that is a collection of data or other material that is arranged in such a way so that the items are individually accessible, may be protected by copyright as a literary work and/or database right. This protection can apply to both paper and electronic databases.

Fair Dealing (Fair Use) In certain circumstances, some copyright works may be used if that use is considered to be 'fair dealing'. This includes non-commercial research or private study, criticism, review and news reporting. These are exceptions and defences to copyright infringement and an acknowledgement to the source materials must be clearly displayed in the case of criticism, review and news reporting.

Infringement Any act which interferes with the owners rights carried out by a third party without the express permission of the rights holder. This could include reproducing a copyright work without permission, using some ones business name falsely, copying someone’s product.

Copyright is infringed where either the whole or a substantial part of a work is used without permission, unless the copying falls within the scope of one of the copyright exceptions. A substantial part is not defined in copyright law but has been interpreted by the courts to mean a qualitatively significant part of a work even where this is not a large part of the work. Therefore, it is quite likely that even a small portion of the whole work will still be a substantial part

Intellectual Property (IP)/ Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

A term used to describe the intangible creations of the human mind which are protected under law, and the rights arising from such creations. These rights are a form of property which can be dealt with in the same way as any physical item. They cover literary, artistic and musical works; inventions and discoveries; symbols, designs, words and phrases.

All rights listed here are the forms of IP/IPR.

License A document which grants a third party permission to perform an infringing act. All forms of Intellectual Property, other than moral rights, can be licensed. The owner (Licensor) grants permission to the Licensee so the Licensee can carry out acts that would interfere with the owner’s rights.

Exclusive license

A license granted to one party for their use of the subject of the license. It allows only the licensee to use to the subject matter at the exclusion the owner and all others.

Sole license

Only one license will be granted for the subject matter, but the owner (licensor) retains the ability to use the subject matter as well.

Moral Rights Moral rights are granted to the authors of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and to film directors:

• to be identified as the author of the work or director of the film in certain circumstances, e.g. when copies are issued to the public

• to object to derogatory treatment of the work or film which amounts to a distortion or mutilation or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author or director

In contrast to the economic rights under copyright, moral rights are concerned with protecting the personality and reputation of authors.

Patents A patent protects new inventions and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what they are made of and how they are made. It gives the owner the right to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without permission. A patent must be novel, inventive, and capable of being made or used by or in industry, whilst also not falling within the excluded subject matter such as literary works, a mental act, business methods or some computer programmes. [See also: Trade Secrets]

Performance Rights Performers are entitled to various rights in their performances, whether these take place on the stage, during a concert and so on. Performers also have rights in any recordings, films or broadcasts of their performances.

Publication Rights Publication right gives rights broadly equivalent to copyright, to a person who publishes for the first time a

literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a film in which copyright has expired. However, there is one major difference; publication right only lasts for 25 years from the year of publication of the previously unpublished material.

Registered Design Rights A registered design is a legal right which protects the overall visual appearance of a product in the geographical area you register it. The visual features that form the design include such things as the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture, materials and the ornamentation of the product which, when applied to the product, give it a unique appearance.

Registered Trade Marks ® A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of your competitors. It can be for example words, logos or a combination of both as well as sounds, shapes and even smells.

Registering your trade mark gives you the exclusive right to use your mark for the goods and/or services that it covers in the United Kingdom (UK). If you have a registered trade mark you can put the ® symbol next to it to warn others against using it. However, using this symbol for a trade mark that is not registered is an offence.

Trade Secrets If it would be difficult to copy the process, construction or formulation from your product itself, a trade secret may give you the protection you need. However, a trade secret does not stop anyone from inventing the same process or product independently, and can be difficult to keep. The law of confidentiality protects trade secrets.[See also: Patents]

Unregistered Design Rights Unregistered Design Right gives you an ‘exclusive right’ to your design for five years after you first market it. People can then apply for licences of right to use your design for the remaining five years. Unregistered Design Right is akin to copyright in that you are protected automatically when you create the design.

Unregistered Trade Marks ™ If you don't register your trade mark, you may still be able to take action if someone uses your mark without your permission, using the common law action of passing off.

This resource was created by the Engineering Subject Centre and released as an open educational resource through the Intellectual Property Rights For Educational Environments (IPR4EE) project of the University College Falmouth. The IPR4EE project is funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER Phase II programme.© 2010 Loughborough University.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence. When repurposing this resource please acknowledge both the Engineering Subject Centre and the IPR4EE project.

The name of Loughborough University are registered marks of Loughborough University. To the fullest extent permitted by law Loughborough University reserves all its rights in its name and marks which may not be used except with its written permission.

The HEA logo is owned by the Higher Education Academy Limited may be freely distributed and copied for educational purposes only, provided that appropriate acknowledgement is given to the Higher Education Academy as the copyright holder and original publisher.

The JISC logo is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that licence.