World Intellectual Property Organization, also known as WIPO, defines Intellectual Property as a term that refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names, and images used in commerce.
Copyright on the other hand is the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the creator/author- for a fixed number of years to print, publish, perform, film or record literary, artistic or musical material. Copyright is a TYPE of intellectual property right, which means that IPR is an umbrella term.
Intellectual property is set for intangible assets that are legally protected and owned by a company or an individual and it includes trademarks, patents, industrial designs and copyrights.
Copyright gives the original authors of works and other individuals who received authorization from the original authors the right to reproduce the work. However, copyright law gives authors the exclusive right to use and duplicate their work. Copyright lasts for the whole of the author’s life and for seventy (70) years after his death. After that time the work becomes public domain.
Throughout the world works that are often copyright protected include:
- Literary works: novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspaper articles
- Computer programs, databases
- Films, musical compositions and choreography
- Works of fine art: paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture
- Works of architecture
- Works of applied art
- Illustrations, maps and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science and technical drawings
Under copyright you have 2 types of rights:
– economic rights which allow the right holders to derive financial reward from the use of their works by others
– moral rights which protect the non-economic interests and personal relationship between the author and his/her work.
Not all types of work can be copyright protected. Copyright is restricted to tangible forms which include: speech, discoveries, musical scores or ideas that have been written down in physical form.
Intangible forms such as: words, phrases, symbols (logos, slogans and brand names) can be trademark protected, while inventions can be patented.
Sources:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/copyright.asp
