Industrial Design
According to the International Council of Societies of
Industrial Design, industrial design is the central factor technological
innovation and the catalyst for economic exchange. The aim of industrial design is to “establish
the multi-faceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems
in whole lifecycles.” When applied to
patent law, the purpose is to protect the intellectual property rights of the
inventor in both domestic and international arenas.
The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of
Industrial Designs provides a single mechanism for filing industrial designs
amongst participating nations. While
over fifty parties have agreed to these terms, noticeable exceptions include
both China and Brazil. Both countries
have varying degrees of industrial design patent protection rights, but patent
infringement continues which has made foreign investment a perilous affair.
According to “IP Strategy” by Robert Pitkethly, firms must
develop external and internal intellectual property strategies in order to
protect their intangible assets.
External strategies include licensing and litigation where the former
permits the use of intellectual property while the latter seeks to stop infringement. The best strategy will depend largely on the
judicial protocol regarding intellectual property statutes of the country the
patentee is operating within. Internal
strategies involve valuation, information, coordination, and education. The
industrial design must be worth the cost of pursuing the industrial design
patent and the risk of informing other parties by means of public filing. The coordination of resources such as legal
experts and licensing managers also incurs additional expense. Lastly, the educating all staff of the
dangers of compromising valuable intellectual property is also of paramount
importance.
Military Design
According to “Intellectual
Property Rights: Innovation, Governance And the Institutional Environment” by Birgitte
Andersen, in the past century half of the world’s science and technology
(S&T) and research and development (R&D) innovations and inventions
were performed conceived due to defense related initiatives. Large superpowers, such as the United States,
were usually penned as having a Military-Industrial Complex that led to the
constant creation of new technologies fueled by defense needs. During the cold
war, IP systems were created in secrecy and the design of these new
technologies were largely left classified to the public because the government
created these technologies internally. However, as the cold war ended, the
United States has led the effort to integrate military and civilian technology
through outsourcing of research, development, services and production to
Private Military Corporations. These corporations span different continents and
have led to dependencies of different countries on other’s for military
technology. Recently, Europe has recognized its over-dependence on the United
States for technology and has developed a European Research Area under the
European Union to help foster innovation and protect IP for military design in
Europe.
This website provides current issues, country specific
strategies, patentability requirements, definitions, and legal actions
concerning industrial and military design protection for the Brazil, China, and
the United States. Please feel free to
peruse the following country specific tabs to learn more.
Sources:
“IP
Strategy” by Robert Pitkethly
