In addition to trademark rights, intellectual property rights also include patent rights, copyrights, trade secrets and integrated circuit layout. Patent rights are intended to promote and improve the technological development of national industries, while copyrights aim to foster the nation’s culture. Both rights have a certain period of validity. On the other hand, trademark rights are deemed a kind of goodwill that is developed from the accumulation of long-term and continuous use. Trademark rights have no set term for expiration, as long as they are renewed and as the enterprise remains in business. Hence, trademark rights are highly regarded.
A trademark may be any sign with distinctiveness, which may, in particular, consist of words, designs, symbols, colors, three-dimensional shapes, motions, holograms, sounds, or any combination thereof, and is used in the competitive market for identifying the source of the goods or services. Unless trademark rights have been renounced by the right holder, or the mark has become a generic name for the industry or has lost its distinctiveness, the trademark rights can be used continuously through renewal.
Copyrights mainly protect a creation within a literary, scientific, artistic, or other intellectual domain that is an independent distillation of the author’s wisdom and techniques. Therefore, a creation must be original but not necessary unprecedented. Works include oral and literary, musical, drama, choreographic, artistic, photographic, audiovisual, and architectural works, and computer programs. In general, economic rights endure a term consisting of the life of the author and fifty years after the author’s death.
Patent protection is for the purpose of encouraging invention and creation so as to upgrade the industrial standards of the nation. A patent that is qualified for protection must be novel, advanced, practical and is applicable in the related industries. A patent is accorded to the patent holder for a definite period of time and emphasizes the result of research and development. Upon the expiration of the period granted to a patent, the technology related thereto will be in the public domain for the industry to use to benefit the masses.