What is an Asset?

Asset Under General Law

Asset under general law is basically defined under the Income Tax Act. According to income tax act, the capital assets are property of any kind held by an asset, whether or not connected with his business or profession, it also includes jewellery, archaeological collections, drawings, paintings, sculptures or any work of art. But the same excludes any movable property which has been kept by the person exclusively for personal use.

Asset Under Intellectual Property

It has been interpreted that human creation and innovation are assets. An innovative mind, in which a person’s thinking, reasoning, creative and analytical skills are put to use. As is evident from the name given to it, these works were recognized as the intangible property of the creator and thus, like with all property, the law sought to grant it statutory protection. Therefore, various acts the intellectual property has been codified in other to protect the asset of the human mind.

The Patent Act

The Patent act has been enforced in order to protect the novel innovation of the human mind. The said act can be applied even on the innovation on the improvement of previous invention, but with the condition that such innovation shall be unique from the previous one, only mere discovery of technology will not be protected under this act.

The Copyright Act

The Copyright right Act has been enacted in order to protect the artistic work of the person, such as artistic work either in literature, or the artistic work on musical work or any dramatic work. But the protection under the said act cannot be granted to the common property, wherein, the person has gathered the common information, events and natural phenomena, cannot claim copyright on the same.

The Trademarks Act

The Trademark Act has been enacted in order to protect the right of the businessman of any goods and service. This particular act grants right and protection on the symbolic or graphical representation of the particular goods and services, in order to distinguish the same from the goods and services. This particular act plays the vitral role in protecting the consumer interest from deception and also encourages the fair business among the rival competitors
But the right and protection cannot be granted over those marks which includes the common name, for instance, Shri Ram, a representation of Hindu Diety.

The Design Act

This Particular Act has been enforced with the intention to protect the design which has been by industrial mechanism in order to give the visual appearance of the particular product, but the same shall not disclose the mode of construction or any mechanical device from which it has been made.
This act will not be applied on those design which is neither novel nor unique and at the same time the design shall not be made in contravention to the law prescribed by the Government of India and moreover, mere novelty of form or shape is insufficient. Novelty involves the presence of some element or new position of an old element in combination, different from anything found in any prior structure.