FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Below you will find answers to the most common questions on Intellectual Property

1. What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property (IP), very broadly, means the legal rights that result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. IP rights, whether in the form of patent, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies, or plant breeders' rights reward this intellectual activity.

2. What is a Patent?

A Patent Is A Title Granted By The State To The Creator Or Owner Of An Invention, Which Entitles The Inventor To Prevent Others From Manufacturing, Using, Selling And In Some Cases, Importing The Technology Without His Permission For A Specified Period Of Years.

3. What are Trade Marks?

Trade marks are signs that distinguish the goods or services of one business from those of other businesses. Before using a trade mark you should check the Register of Trade Marks to ensure that no one else has registered a mark which is the same or similar to yours for use with the same or similar goods and services. Care should also be taken to ensure that your mark is not the same or similar to the name of a business or corporate entity which trades in goods or services that are of the same type or similar to those on which you plan to use your mark.

4. What are Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits?

An Integrated Circuit means a product, in its final form or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections, are integrally formed in or on a piece of material, or both, and which is intended to perform an electronic function. A layout-design is synonymous with topography and means the three dimensional disposition, however expressed of the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and of some or all of the inter-connections of an integrated circuit, or such a three- dimensional disposition prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture.

5. What is copyright?

Copyright is the right given by law to the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work to control the copying and other use of his work.

6. What Is An Industrial Design?

It is the features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation that gives a special appearance to a product of industry or handicraft and serves as a pattern for that product of industry or handicraft. The industrial design does not need to have any artistic merit but must new. 'New' means not previously made available in St.Vincent & The Grenadines.