In today’s world that has become a global village, IPRs are significant because they protect the inventions of the mind, encourage creativity and support economic development. The three fundamental types of IPR identified include; Copyrights, Patents, and Trade Secrets, and each of them as their distinctive function.

Copyrights is a legal right that protects literary and artistic works, to include music, artwork, etc The copyrighted work may be a work of literature, art, music or any other piece of work created by an author, ranging from the life of the author plus 70 years. Copyrights stimulate productions of the culture and intellect by offering the producers or creators some exclusive rights on the produced work.

Patents are legal documents conferring rights over a new, helpful and non obvious invention to the inventor or his assignee for a specified period of 20 years from date of filing. Patents can be anything from mechanical to biotechnology related inventions. They encourage inventiveness in that inventors can prevent others from utilizing, producing or selling the invention in the entire term of the patent .

Trade Secrets are specific forms of business information which are secret and protect formulas, practices and designs etc. Unike copyrights and patents trade secrets do not have expiry date, this is because the information is supposed to remain secret. There is also available legal protection against misappropriation for companies which means that companies have to go through a lot of effort to keep the information confidential.

Altogether, these IPR forms help promote both inspiration and competition while at the same time preserving people’s rights with regard to knowledge.