Post No.
14. Intellectual Property
Intellectual
Property laws are not an easy matter or recent. According to
sources from ancient Greek it began in 500 BCE when Sybaris Europe that some major and
well known legislation was passed. The first of these was the Statute of Monopolies
in 1623.
It has
been incorporated into the legislatures of most of the countries around the globe
but still remains confused or misinterpreted. Intellectual rights are included
in the universal declaration of human rights.
The United States Constitution says : “The
Congress shall have Power to promote the progress of science and useful arts,
by securing for limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to
their respective writings and discoveries.” (Intellectual Property Clause.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the United States
Also we need to be aware that e digital era incorporates new terms and conditions but we need to understand that the intellectual property is an asset like any other asset.
In dealing
with such a complex subject, I have included some definitions and legal
considerations in this post. It draws attention that there are detractors to
this law and that it includes matters that we did not have ideas that are part
of the structure of these rights. As follow:
“Intellectual Property is a property right that can be
protected under federal and state law, including copyrightable works, ideas,
discoveries, and inventions. The term intellectual property relates to
intangible property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
Thus, in today’s legal marketplace most registered patent attorneys hold
themselves out as intellectual property law attorneys, as opposed to merely a
patent attorney. A patent is the right to exclude others from, making, using or
selling the invention throughout the United States of America
The U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101.80, is federal
legislation enacted by Congress under its Constitutional grant of authority to
protect the writing of authors. The Copyright Act now covers architectural
design, software, the graphic arts, motion pictures, and sound recordings. Because
federal legislation invalidates inconsistent state law, the copyright field is
almost exclusively a Federal one.
A copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to
reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his work. The owner also
receives the exclusive right to produce or license derivatives of his or her
work. Limited exceptions to this exclusivity exist for types of “fair use”,
such as book reviews. The federal agency charged with administering the act is
the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.
Intellectual Property (IP) is an intangible creation of the
human mind, usually expressed or translated into a tangible form, that is
assigned certain rights of property. Examples of intellectual property include
an authors copyright on a book or article, a distinctive logo design
representing a soft drink company and its products, unique design elements of a
web site, or a patent on a particular process, for example, manufacture chewing
gum.
Countries protect IP “because they know safeguarding these
property rights fosters economic growth, provides incentive for technological
innovation, and attracts investment that will create new jobs and opportunities
for all their citizens.” (USLegal. Inc)
The first known use of the term “Intellectual Property”
dates to 1769; when a piece published in the Monthly Review used the phrase. The
first clear example of modern usage goes back as early as 1808, when it was
used as a heading title in a collection of essays.
When the administrative secretariats established by the
Paris Convention (1883) and the Berne Convention (1886) merged in 1893, they
located in Berne , and also adopted the term
intellectual property in their new combined title. The United International
Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property.
The organization subsequently relocated to Geneva
Intellectual property (or IP) is a category of property that
includes intangible creations of the human intellect, and primarily encompasses
copyrights, patents, and trademarks. It also includes other types of rights,
such as trade secrets, publicity rights, moral rights, and rights against
unfair competition. Artistic works like music and literature, as well as some
discoveries, inventions, words, phrases, symbols, and designs can all be
protected as intellectual property.
The main purpose of intellectual property law is to
encourage the creation of a wide variety of intellectual goods. To achieve
this, the law gives people and businesses property rights to the information
and intellectual goods they create, usually for a limited period of time. Because
they can then profit from them, this gives economic incentive for their
creation.” (Wikipedia)
Free Software Foundation founder Richard Allman argues that,
although the term Intellectual Property is in wide use, it should be rejected
altogether, because it “systematically distorts and confuse these issues, and
its use was and is promoted by those who gain from this confusion”
Similarly, economists Boldrin and Levine prefer to use the
term intellectual monopoly” as a more
appropriate and clear definition of the concept, which they argue, is very
dissimilar from property rights.
Intellectual property rights are like any other property
rights. These rights are outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which provides for the right to benefit from the protection of
moral and material interests, resulting from authorship of scientific, literary
or artistic productions. (WIPO).” [Wikipedia]
The Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
says”
“(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the
cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.”
(2) Everyone has the
right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any
scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.” (
Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Additional references:
Intellectual
Property
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. PDF:
Intellectual Property. Entrepreneur. Article:
Intellectual Property. Find Law. Article:
Jonathan Mann- I won’t lick it down I No Copyright Needed. Time:
3:32:
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