Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and
artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable
people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By
striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public
interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation
can flourish.

FOUR TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

1. Patent

A patent is a title which provides its owner the right to prevent others from exploiting the
invention mentioned in the patent. It does not allow by itself making or selling an
invention but it rather gives the right to exclude others from making, using, selling or
importing the patented invention.
This monopoly is granted for a specific field, in a defined country and for a maximum of
20 years in return for the full disclosure of the invention with the publication of its
technical details.

Hence patent consists on a deal between inventors and society:

 for the inventor - a patent is the way to prevent competitors from copying its
invention
 for society - a patent consists on improving innovation process by the public
disclosure of innovations. In return investment is encouraged by the delivery of
exclusivity right and the derived benefits.

Note: Ignorance that you are infringing someone else patents is not a valid defence
before the Court.

2. Trademark

A trademark is a sign by which a business identifies its products or services and

distinguishes them from those supplied by competitors. It can be distinctive words,
marks or other features. Its purpose is to establish in the mind of the customer a link
between all the different products and/or services that the company offers, and then
distinguish them from those supplied by competitors.
 A trade mark may consist of any signs capable of being represented graphically,
particularly words, including personal names, logos, letters, numerals, the shape of
goods or of their packaging, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the
goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings.

3. Design

Designs are concerned with the features, the appearance of a part or the whole product:

 two-dimensional features such as patterns, lines and/or colour

 three-dimensional features such as shape, texture and/or surface of an article
are protectable by design right if they are not dictated by functional considerations.

Registration of design confers on the owner (for a limited time) the exclusive right to use
the design and to authorise others to use it. It also includes the right to make, offer, put
on the market, import, export, or use a product in which the design is incorporated or to
which it is applied, or to stock such a product for those purposes.

The maximum duration of design protection varies from country to country from 5 to 25
years.

4. Trade Secret

Trade secrets concern secret or proprietary information of commercial value. These are
not covered by specific statutory provisions as other types of IP are, although there
could be aspects of contract law, or employment law that might be relevant in a
particular case.

The level of protection conferred to trade secrets varies significantly from country to
country. The notion of secret is mentioned in the Commission Regulation No 772/2004
as being "not generally known or easily accessible". Indeed, trade secret represents an
interest for its holder, which is often a competitive advantage.

Trade secrets do not receive any protection from intellectual property rights, even
though a doctrinal discussion exists on this issue and some authors consider trade
secrets themselves as an IP right.

In any case, they could fall under the scope of protection of civil law and unfair
competition law. In addition, some countries also provide penal sanctions for persons
who fraudulently disclose an industrial secret.
 5. Copyright

Copyright is a legal term describing rights given to creators for their original literary,
musical or artistic works which allow them to control their subsequent use. These
include for example:

 computer software
 drawings, maps, charts or plans
 photographs and films
 architectural works
 sculptures
 sound recordings
 TV and radio broadcasts

Copyright protection has two components:

 Moral rights, which are not transferable and give the creator the right to be
identified as the author of the work and the right to object to any distortion or mutilation
of the work.
 Economic rights, which entitle the owner to control the use of its creation in a
number of ways (making copies, issuing copies to the public, performing in public,
broadcasting etc.) and to obtain an appropriate economic reward.

It is important to recognize that copyright is not a monopoly: Two people could

independently create identical items. Provided there is no copying, there is no
infringement and both can hold copyright in their respective works.

Current Issues Related to Copyright

A copyright protects only original works of "authorship" included in the following seven
categories:

 Literary works (including computer programs),

 Musical works, including any accompanying words,
 Dramatic works, including any accompanying music,
 Pantomimes and choreographic works,
 Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works,
 Motion pictures and other audiovisual works,
 Sound recordings.

The 1976 Copyright Act abolished common law copyright and provided express
protection for computer programs and databases. A copyright can he claimed for either
published or unpublished works and exists at the time the work is created.
The owner of a copyright has the exclusive rights to do and authorize:

the reproduction of the copyrighted work in copies or phono records;

the preparation of derivative works;

the distribution of copies or phono records to the public by sale or other transfer of
ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and
motion pictures and other audiovisual works, the performance of the copyrighted work
publicly; and

in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and
pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including individual images of a motion picture or
other audiovisual work, the display of the copyrighted work publicly.

It is important to distinguish the ownership of a copyright and the ownership of the

material object in which the copyrighted work is embodied. Simply put, you may own a
book, but unless you have the permission of the copyright owner, you have no right to
make copies of the book.

Initial ownership in a copyright resides in the author or authors. In the case of a "work
made for hire" (see definition supra), the employer or other person for whom the work
was prepared is considered the author. A copyright may be assigned, and the
assignment may be recorded in the Copyright Office. Recordation serves as
constructive notice.

Although not the strict requirement it once was after the U.S. became a signatory to the
Berne Convention in 1989, it is recommended that the Statutory notice be applied to
published works. The notice should be provided in the form of;

either the symbol ©, "copyright" or "copr.",

the year, and

the name of the owner of the copyright.

Registration is not a prerequisite to a claim of copyright. You should, however, register

your copyright within five years of first publication since a registration within five years is
considered prima facie evidence of the validity of the registration.

Registration is a simple process requiring only that you file an application with the
required deposit and payment of the fee. The registration form for Class TX, non-
dramatic literary works, is used for computer programs as well as technical manuals.
The deposit requirement for a computer program which is fixed or published only in the
form of machine-readable copies is one copy of identifying portions of the program,
reproduced in a form visually perceptible, either on paper or in microform. The
Copyright Office prefers source code but will accept object code. If source code is
deposited, it is possible to delete portions of it that are considered to be a trade secret.

Actions to Promote Ethical Use of Media and Information

One way of promoting ethical use of media is to be keen on the details and information,
since everyone can freely access it nowadays, so it has to be genuine and legit. As a
reader, you need to check every detail if it’s the fact. Everyone can also be a feeder or a
source, then you have to give the right information to the readers. The use of media is
the responsibility of every one. Stop spreading false news and avoid gullibility.

Respect People’s Privacy

Because nearly all of the services and platforms young people use are networked,
every time a friend posts something they have to decide if – and how – to share it.
Unfortunately, they often ignore the ethical issues of this choice, expecting others to tell
them if they don’t want something to be shared.

Respect People’s Feelings

Sometimes it can be hard to remember that the people we communicate with online are
real people who have feelings. This is because we don’t see or hear many of the things
that trigger empathy in us, like a person’s tone of voice, body language or
facial expression.

Respect People’s Property

One of the most common ethical decisions kids face online has to do with how they
access and use things like music, games and videos. So much stuff is easily available
online that it’s hard to resist “putting your hand in the cookie jar,” especially since we’re
not reminded – as we would be if we were to sneak into a movie or steal a video game
from a store – that people are affected by what we do. There’s also lots of confusion,
among both kids and adults, about what’s permitted and what’s not. We need to teach
kids to think about whether they’re watching, listening to and playing things online in a
way that shows respect for the people who made it and own it.

Plagiarism