Course No7

III- Protection and Enhancement of Intellectual Property

1. Why is it necessary to promote and protect intellectual property?

Intellectual property serves to protect intellectual creations. It rewards the efforts of

innovators by granting them rights, allowing them to disseminate their creations in society
and profit from them through a monopoly of exploitation for a specified period. The
protection provided by intellectual property enables action against counterfeiters and unfair
practices.

- Creating value: Owning a portfolio of patents, trademarks, and designs contributes to

enriching the intangible capital of your company and can be a source of tangible income
(patent assignments, licensing agreements, etc.).
- Valorizing your creations: As a factor of recognition, intellectual property is a reliable way
to valorize your creations with partners and establish your reputation among customers.
For a laboratory, it helps strengthen ties with the industrial sector and materialize research
efforts.
- Stimulating your creativity and innovations: Intellectual property allows you to assess the
innovative nature of an innovation and encourages you to seek ever more creative
solutions.
- Increasing your credibility: Registering industrial property titles, asserting copyright,
enhances your credibility with partners, especially financial ones, and materializes the
development of your ideas or products.
- Expanding into other markets: Protecting your creation internationally opens up new
markets to exploit your products and form alliances with new partners abroad.

2. How to Protect Intellectual Property?

An idea and a concept cannot be protected as such. Only the materialization of this idea or
concept can be protected:

 Through a patent application, if the materialization of your idea is a technical innovation.

 Through a design registration, if the materialization of your idea is aesthetic.
 Through a trademark registration, for any sign identifying the products or services you
will offer to your clientele.
 Through copyright, if your concept materializes as an artistic or literary work.
 By keeping, in some cases, the idea secret.

3. Why is it Essential to Protect Creations through Intellectual Property Rights?

The protection of intellectual property allows a creator, on one hand, to retain copyright,
neighboring rights, or, where applicable, to ensure the protection of industrial property rights
to defend against damage suffered due to infringement of a work. On the other hand, it allows
for the valorization of intellectual property, also called intangible or incorporeal property, to
derive profit from it.
From a social perspective, the protection of intellectual property rights aims to encourage and
reward creation, promote economic and cultural development, foster innovation, and research
and development within companies.
More specifically, the protection of distinctive signs such as trademarks (which differentiate
the products and services of a legal or natural person from those of its competitors, according
to Article L711-1 of the Intellectual Property Code) pursues a dual social objective in
intellectual property protection:
First, to cleanse the economic environment of breaches of commercial loyalty (unfair
competition).
Second, to protect consumers by giving them the opportunity to make an informed choice
among different products and services available on the market.
The duration of intellectual property rights (for example, set at 20 years for a patent) allows
for reconciling the legitimate interests of the creator or author and those of users.

4. Protection and Valorization of Intellectual Property in Algeria

In Algeria, the role of protecting inventions is assigned to the Algerian Institute of Industrial
Property "INAPI," while the protection of literary and artistic properties is assigned to the
National Office of Copyright and Related Rights (ONDA).

4.1. Algerian National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI)

4.1.1. Presentation
The Algerian National Institute of Industrial Property, abbreviated as INAPI, is a public
administrative institution under the supervision of the Algerian Ministry of Industry and
Mines. INAPI was established by Executive Decree 98-68 of February 21, 1998. In 2017,
INAPI issued more than 400 patents.

4.1.2. History
Since independence, industrial property has been successively entrusted to:

- the National Office of Industrial Property (ONPI) in 1963.

- the Algerian Institute of Standardization and Industrial Property in 1973 (coexisting with
standardization activities).
- In 1986, some industrial property activities were transferred to the National Center for
Trade Register.
 - In 1998, all industrial property activities were consolidated within the "new" INAPI to
allow for a redeployment of activities and placed under the supervision of the Ministry
responsible for Industry.

4.1.3. Missions

INAPI's missions include:

- receiving deposits and issuing industrial property titles: patents, trademarks, designs;
- participating in the development of industrial property law;
- providing the public with all necessary information for the protection of industrial property
titles;
- training and raising awareness among all economic actors on industrial property issues;
- managing the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property (PI).

4.2. National Office of Copyright and Related Rights (ONDA)

4.2.1. Presentation
The National Office of Copyright and Related Rights, abbreviated as ONDA, is an Algerian
society for copyright management established in 1973. Its main mission is the protection of
the moral and material interests of authors or their rights holders and neighboring rights
holders. It is governed by the relevant provisions of Ordinance 03-05 of July 19, 2003, on
copyright and related rights, as well as Executive Decree 05/356 of September 21, 2005,
establishing its statutes.

4.2.3. Organization
ONDA is managed by a Board of Directors composed of 10 artist members elected for a
period of 4 years. It consists of 7 commissions:

 Commission for the management of social affairs;

 Commission for the identification of musical works;
 Commission for the classification of dramatic and dramatic-musical works;
 "Authors" commission;
 "Performing Artists" commission;
 Commission responsible for the preservation of heritage;
 Commission responsible for reviewing requests for cultural promotion.
4.2.4. Missions
The protection of the moral and material interests of authors or their rights holders and
neighboring rights holders. This protection is ensured through collective management or
simple protection.

 Protection of works of traditional cultural heritage and national works that have fallen
into the public domain.
 Social protection of authors and performing artists.
 Cultural promotion.