There are three objects of patent right in China: invention, utility model and design. Invention refers to a new technical scheme and utility model proposed for a product, method or its improvement. Refers to the shape, structure and combination of products, which are suitable for practical new technical solutions; Appearance design refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application for the shape, pattern, color or their combination of products.
The core of an invention or utility model is its technical scheme, that is, the technical measures taken by the inventor to solve technical problems. These technical measures are just a kind of information disclosed to the public by the inventor in the patent application, whether it is a complex product structure design or a simple material formula. The same is true of design. This information may be sought after by technicians in this field for many years, or it may be considered theoretically infeasible but practically feasible, that is, the so-called information to overcome technical prejudice. The public can implement these patents on the basis of these public information without creative work.
Therefore, invention, utility model or design is essentially a kind of information.
The object of trademark right is trademark. A trademark is a symbol of the source of goods or services. Trademarks establish a specific relationship between goods and services and their manufacturers and suppliers, and directly convey information about the source of goods or services to the public. This information includes who is the producer or provider of goods or services and their business reputation, the quality and reputation of goods or services and so on.
The object of copyright is the work. There are many types of works, but no matter what type of works, the author mainly creates some information for readers. This information may be exciting, decadent, thought-provoking and so on. A work must be able to spread literary or scientific ideas. It is a carrier of information, not a practical tool and means. People get the information they want from works. Works are just the shell of information, and its essence is still information.
The object of stopping unfair competition right is unfair competition. There are many acts of unfair competition, but the most typical ones are confusion, slander and misleading.
According to the relevant provisions of the Paris Convention, the so-called confusing behavior refers to all behaviors that confuse competitors' business offices, commodities or industrial and commercial activities by any means; Defamation is a false statement that damages the reputation of competitors' business offices, commodities or industrial and commercial activities in business operations; Misleading behavior refers to the use of representations or statements in business that easily mislead the public about the nature, manufacturing methods, characteristics, applicability or quantity of goods.
The essence of these three kinds of unfair competition behaviors is that operators spread inappropriate, inappropriate or untrue information to the outside world that is not good for themselves, their goods or services, competitors or their goods or services in the course of business operations, thus infringing on competitors' fair competition rights.
The right of trade secret is one of the rights to stop unfair competition, and its object is trade secret. According to the third paragraph of Article 10 of China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law, trade secrets refer to technical information and commercial information that are not known to the public, can bring economic benefits to the obligee, and are practical and kept confidential by the obligee. The State Administration for Industry and Commerce lists what is technical information and commercial information in Several Provisions on Infringement of Trade Secrets, that is, technical information and commercial information include design, procedure, product formula, production process, production method, management know-how, customer list, supply information, production and marketing strategy, pre-tender estimate and bidding content. As can be seen from the above provisions, the essence of trade secrets is secret information that meets specific conditions.
Database right is not a legally established concept. The database right used in this paper refers to the copyright enjoyed by database developers or investors, or it can be a special right granted according to the special law on database protection, such as the right given to database developers in the third chapter of the European Database Legal Protection Directive to prohibit others from extracting or reusing it. The object of database right is database. A database is a collection of data collected for a specific purpose. Database is "database" in English, in which "data" comes from Latin "Lat Datum", which means "data" and "information". Therefore, the more accurate name of the database should be "database" or "information base". It can be clearly seen from the etymology of the word database that the essence of database is still information.
The object of integrated circuit layout design right is integrated circuit layout design. Integrated circuit layout design refers to a series of related images fixed or encoded in any way. These images:
(1) reflects the three-dimensional configuration mode between those material layers used to form integrated circuit products;
(2) Each image reflects all or part of the surface patterns at various stages in the manufacturing process of integrated circuit products, so it can be seen that the layout design of integrated circuits is actually a graphical configuration method of integrated circuit components. The configuration mode of these components is essentially a kind of information about component configuration. Based on this information, people can copy or realize these layout designs.
The essence of the object of intellectual property is information, which can also be seen from the purpose of intellectual property legislation. Taking American intellectual property as an example, the main purpose of American intellectual property law is to attract private investment in the production of all kinds of information. The measure taken by law is to give information producers the property right to occupy the information value they produce. Specifically, copyright law attracts people to invest in original and expressive information by giving authors, artists, composers and publishers exclusive rights for a certain period of time; Patent law stimulates private investment to produce new, useful and inconspicuous technical information through property rights; Trademark law encourages enterprises to invest in symbolic information of their own products or services by prohibiting enterprises from using the same logo on the same or similar goods or services as competitors.
Due to the conclusion of many international conventions on intellectual property rights, the intellectual property system has a strong international character. The main purpose of American intellectual property law is to protect information investment. It can be said that the intellectual property laws of China and even most countries in the world have the same purpose.