Intellectual Property

Ronan FitzpatrickSchool of Computing, Dublin Institute of Technology.

September 2008

What is Intellectual Property

• An intangible piece of property• A right which protects creative/intellectual

effort of the owner• A means to protect unauthorised use of

ideas.• A means of protecting market position or

competitive advantage• A commercial asset and tool.

Protection options

• Copyright

• Trademarks

• Patents

• Confidential information/trade secrets

• Domain name registration

Copyright

• Automatically subsists in original works – no registration required

• Only protects the expression (not the underlying idea)

• Infringed by copying

• Lasts 70 years from the death of the author.

Copyright and Related Rights Act 2001

• Effective January 2001– Complies with Ireland’s EU and WTO

requirements– Replaces our earlier copyright law– Most basic principles of copyright remain

unchanged

Works protected by copyright

• Original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works

• Computer programs are defined as literary works

• Sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes

• Typographical arrangements of published editions

• Original databases

What copyright confers

• The owner has the right (or can allow others) to carry out “restricted acts” in relation to the work, i.e., – Copy the work– Make the work available to the public– Adapt the work

• (Refers to the whole work or a substantial part of it.

Ownership of copyright

• The creator or author of the work owns the copyright– Photograph – photographer– Film – producer and director

Previously, those who commissioned copyright works had special rights

– Now governed by contract law.

Exceptions

• Copyright does not cover– The ideas and elements underlying any element

of the work– Procedures– Methods of operation– Mathematical concepts– Database content (my be separately the subject

of copyright)

Employees and contractors

• An employer is the copyright beneficiary of a work created by employees in the course of their employment.– Clarify that the person is an employee– Clarify created during employment– Contractors not covered – they’re first owner– Ensure an explicit advance contract/agreement

in writing.

Rights 1

• Paternity Right– Right of the author to be identified as the author

of the work• Does not apply to employees

• Does apply to contractors, graphic designers, advert. Agencies

– The right can be waived but not assigned

Rights 2

• Integrity Right– Authors can object to modification (distortion,

mutilation) or other derogatory action– Permitted to translate literary works– May not translate a computer program into

another computer language

Databases

• Database rights – 15 years from the creation or first making available

• If sufficiently original, also qualifies for 70 years copyright from death of author

Database defined

• Collection of independent works, data or other materials, arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by any means.– Not necessarily held on compute– Includes poetry anthologies

Database originality

• Recognises that purpose-designed computer databases are original because of the skill and effort in the arrangement

• Constitutes an original intellectual creation of the author.

Trademarks

• Any sign capable of being represented graphically which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings

• (A brand or badge that distinguished your products or services)

Rights conferred by registration

• Prevent use of an identical or similar mark for identical or similar good or services

• Exceptionally you can prevent of an identical pr similar mark for dissimilar goods or services

Trademarks

• Invented words• Dictionary words• Letters and numerals• Slogans• Smells/fragrances• Logos• Forms of packaging• Shapes• Sounds and images

Registered Trade Mark

• Different from

– Company name– Business name– Domain name

Which grant no proprietary rights

Registration

• Application

• Examination

• Opposition

• Registration• 12 -18 months to complete

• 10 year duration and can be renewed perpetually

Patents - The Basics• Exclusive right granted by State in return for

disclosure of invention• Limited term of protection (20 years)

– after which the invention is free for use by public

• Inventions must be absolutely new and cannot be obvious developments of known technology

• Patent gives right to prevent unauthorised use, manufacture, sale or importation in the patented territory

Patentable inventions• Devices, machines, apparatuses• Chemicals and pharmaceuticals• Electrical and electronic• Industrial Processes and methods

• Biotechnology• Computer hardware• Computer software• Business methods*

• *(… maybe)

Unpatentable Inventions (Europe)

• Methods of treatment of human and animal body

• Animal and plant varieties

• Inventions contrary to morality or public order

• Aesthetic creations, presentations of information

• Discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods

• Computer programs per se (subject to copyright)

• Schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business

• The exclusions are to be interpreted narrowly, and some are currently the subject of fast-developing law (particularly software, business methods and animal and plant varieties)

Confidential information/trade secrets

Domain Names

• Almost anything can be registered• First come, first served• Exceptions are famous names where only the owner can apply

(Guinness,

• Generic names are not allowed in the .i.e., domain• Real and substantive presence must be proved for

national registration• Need to protect all domain extensions

e.g., .com, .org, .edu, .gov, • consider the Whitehouse

Conclusion

Copyright Trademarks Patents Confidential information/trade

secrets Domain name registration