Property Law Questions & Answers
Intellectual property law is a field related to information, knowledge, and creativity that can be used toward the production of tangible objects that can be reproduced indefinitely and widely across the world. In other words, ideas that can be put into concrete products or materials and dispersed widely. Intellectual property laws protect the idea behind the copies, not the actual copies themselves. Intellectual property laws serve to both protect thinkers and creators and preserve their economic rights, while also encouraging the production of new ideas in the marketplace.
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What is Intellectual Property?
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According to the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, the following subjects can be protected under intellectual property laws: personal work such as literary, artistic, or scientific creations; inventions; artistic performances and broadcasts, phonograms, scientific discoveries, industrial inventions and designs, trademarks and commercial names, and "all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields." Also, these laws can protect one against unfair competition.
Intellectual property law has two specific branches: industrial property and copyright.
Industrial property covers inventions, designs, names, trademarks, and the protection against unfair competition mentioned above. Industrial property, then, is more conceptual and involves the idea behind a product or material.
Copyright applies to the actual creations of an individual, including songs, films, artwork, books, and software or computer programs. These are tangible things, but they can be reproduced widely and therefore the original creator needs protection under copyright law. Once these works are copyrighted, vendors and sellers must acquire a license to reproduce them, and usually the original creator benefits from the reproduction.
What Rights are Protected Under Copyright?
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Certain rights are protected under copyright. The owner of the original copyrighted material can either prohibit others from reproducing his work or authorize reproduction and sale. The protected rights of the original creator are: the actual reproduction, reprinting, or re-recording of the material; the distribution of copies of the material; the public performance of the material such as stage shows or public broadcasting, translation into new languages, or adaptation into another literary or artistic form.
These rights have certain limitations. For instance, the right to distribute copies of a material terminates upon the first sale of the specific copy in question. In the example of a novel, once a copy is sold to a consumer, that consumer has the freedom to resell or donate that copy freely. The consumer, however, cannot make copies of the purchased copy and sell them, as that right belongs to the creator and is protected under copyright law.
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What are the Limitations of Intellectual Property Rights?
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There are, of course, limits to copyright and intellectual property rights. Certain usages of protected works are legal for the public. These include quoting with proper citation, use of materials for educational purposes, and use of materials or creations to freely report news.
Additionally, copyright laws often depend on the country. In some areas, free use clauses are present for those who wish to reproduce creative or intellectual material for private, non-commercial use.
Additionally, copyrights do not last forever. As different countries have different laws, each law designates the time limit of the copyright ownership. In certain cases, copyright ends at the death of the author or creator of the work. In others, it continues after a certain period past the death of the author to allow benefits to filter toward successors and estates of the deceased.
How are Intellectual Property Laws Enforced?
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With the increase of digital technology, it is becoming more difficult to monitor reproduction of intellectual property and stop the illegal pirating of goods such as songs, books, and software.
Provisional measures are one form of enforcement of copyright. This involves a process of finding a reproducer of a particular work and cutting off her ability to pirate the material. Provisional measures might include the search of a home or warehouse, or the seizure of a hard drive or database. This cuts off the ability to continue distributing illegally reproduced works.
Border patrol is another common measure to reduce the amount of illegal distribution of goods. This measure is targeted toward distributors rather than reproducers.
Civil actions include settlements by which the creator of the material is reimbursed or compensated for the economic benefits gained by an illegal reproduction or distribution of their work. Often, these remedies include pecuniary damages, which means payment to the rights owner for economic damage caused by the infringement. This process serves as a deterrent for illegal reproducers, as it can often amount to a cost much higher than the actual net gained from sale of the illegal goods.
Intellectual Property Law has four types of clauses, rights, and procedures, and many depend on location. But basic fundamentals of copyrights and intellectual property remain the same. As technology increases, it becomes all the more important to tighten property laws that protect artists, writers, musicians, and other creative contributors.
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References
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