Reading 1: Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP)

Reading 1: Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: COPYRIGHT AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

Reading 1: Introduction to Intellectual Property (IP)

1. Study the principal branches of the intellectual property:

2. The text below introduces the key terms used when speaking about intellectual property. Read through the text quickly and think of the most appropriate heading for each of its paragraphs:

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______
  4. ______
  5. ______
  6. ______

What is Intellectual Property or IP?

  1. Intellectual Property, often known as IP, is a fast-moving and sometimes complex area of law. It allows people to own their creativity and innovation in the same way they can own physical property. In other words, Intellectual Property is the group of legal rights in things people create or invent. Intellectual Property typically includes four major components: patent law, copyright law, trademarks, and industrial designs. However, IP is much broader than this extending to trade secrets, plant varieties, geographical indications, performers rights, misappropriation, etc. As defined by Article 2, section (viii), of the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)[1], done at Stockholm, July 14, 1967, “intellectual property” shall include the rights relating to: literary, artistic and scientific works, performances of performing artists, phonograms, and broadcasts, inventions in all fields of human endeavor, scientific discoveries, industrial designs, trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations, protection against unfair competition, and all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.

2. Let us consider the major areas of IP:

  • PATENTS grant an inventor the right to exclude others from producing or using the inventor's discovery or invention for a limited period of time. In the USA, for example, before 1995, patents were normally issued for a non-renewable period of 17 years, measured from the date of issuance. Under the amended provision (which took effect June 8, 1995) the term will be twenty years measured from the date of application. While historically a model was required as part of a patent application, in most cases today, only a detailed specification is necessary.
  • TRADE MARKS are generally names, logos or drawings used to indicate the identity or reputation of a business. Trademark status may also be granted to distinctive and unique packaging, color combinations, building designs, product styles, and overall presentations. Service-marks receive the same legal protection as trademarks but are meant to distinguish services rather than products.
  • INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS protect elements of product appearance (i.e. shape or pattern, not function) resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product itself or its ornamentation;
  • COPYRIGHT applies to original creations in the literary, dramatic, musical and artistic fields, sound recordings and broadcasts, including software and multimedia.

3. Normally, property ownership involves 2 essential elements: control over the property by the owner and the ability to exclude others from using or interfering with the property[2]. In intellectual property, these elements must be adapted. The underlying idea usually takes some external form; for example, the invention is seen in a product or process; the design in a pattern or shape; the trademark in a name or logo. In most cases, the owner of the right must register the creation of the property and mark the idea in order to inform the public of the existence of the right.

4. The right to exclude others from using the property is the most important feature of intellectual property. The owner has the exclusive right to use the property, or to allow someone else to use it. The value of the property is in its exclusiveness or in the revenue which can be generated from licensing others to use it.

5. Indeed, intellectual property law ensures that the best and most popular inventions and creations earn monetary compensation for their creators. This, in turn, inspires others to create through discussion and understanding. Therefore, the heart of intellectual property law is the balancing of (a) financially rewarding creation through granting of exclusive rights to the author and (b) promoting the free flow of ideas to facilitate more creation.

6. Each of the areas is governed by federal statutes which set out the conditions for creation, the process of registration, the right of the registered owner, the remedies for infringement and the rights of the public to use the property.

3. Now read the text again and tick the issues it addresses:

a. Intellectual property componentsh. unique packaging of a product 

b. the WIPO i. property ownership elements 

c. patent law overviewj. cases of registering property creation 

d. trademark law overviewk. the most significant aspect of IP 

e. industrial design law overviewl. remedies for infringement 

f. copyright law overview

g. patent terms

Vocabulary Focus

4. Read the text and find the words with the following meanings:

1) Certain creations of the human mind that have commercial value and are given the legal aspects of a property right.

2) An exclusive right granted or conferred by the government on the creator of a work to exclude others from reproducing it, adapting it, distributing it to the public, performing it in public, or displaying it in public.

3) A graphic representation or symbol of a company name or trademark, usually designed for ready recognition.

4) An invasion of one of the exclusive rights of intellectual property.

5) The human creation of a new technical idea and the physical means to accomplish or embody the idea.

6) A word, slogan, design, picture, or any other symbol used to identify and distinguish goods.

7) A word, slogan, design, picture, or any other symbol used to identify and distinguish services (retail sales services, airlines services, insurance, investment services, and the like) as opposed to a product.

8) A grant to an inventor of the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention.

9) A common-law form of unfair competition where the defendant has copied or appropriated some item or creation of the plaintiff that is not protected by either patent law, copyright law, trademark law, or any other traditional theory of exclusive rights.

10) Act of correcting an error or a fault or an evil.

11) One of the 16 “specialized agencies” of the United Nations system, created in 1967 and responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.

12) Business information that is the subject of reasonable efforts to preserve confidentiality and has value because it is not generally known in the trade.

13) A right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right).

14) To serve as the inciting cause of; fill with revolutionary ideas.

15) To lay out in a line.

16) The entire amount of income before any deductions are made.

5. Here is a more comprehensive list of key terms used to speak about intellectual property.

Match the terms (1–11) with their definitions (a–k).

TERM / DEFINITION
  1. assignment
/
  1. Indirect infringement of intellectual property rights in which one person contributes to the direct act of infringement of another.

  1. contributory infringement
/
  1. The inherent right of every human being to control the commercial use of his or her identity.

  1. duration
/
  1. A formal sign or notification attached to physical objects that embody or reproduce an intellectual property right.

  1. field of use restriction
/
  1. An identical copy of a work or product protected by patent, trademark, trade dress, copyright. When used as a verb, the act of producing such a copy.

  1. functionality
/
  1. A permission to use an intellectual property right, under defined conditions - as to time, context, market line, or territory.

  1. knock-off
/
  1. A provision in an intellectual property license restricting the licensee to use of the licensed property only in a defined product or service market.

  1. license
/
  1. That aspect of design that makes a product work better for its intended purpose, as opposed to making the product look better or to identifying its commercial source.

  1. notice
/
  1. The term or length of time that an intellectual property right lasts.

  1. right of publicity
/
  1. A transfer of rights in intellectual property.

  1. unfair competition
/
  1. Commercial conduct that the law views as unjust.

6. Give English equivalents and their explanations to the following Russian terms used when speaking about IP.

1

  1. переуступка прав, правопередача
  2. соучастие в контрафакции; пособничество в нарушении патента
  3. срок действия
  4. ограничение области применения
  5. функциональность
  6. подделка
  7. лицензия
  8. уведомление[3]
  9. право на публичность (публичное использование)
  10. авторское право
  11. интеллектуальная собственность
  12. изобретение
  1. контрафакция, нарушение
  2. логотип
  3. неправомерное завладение, присвоение
  4. патент
  5. знак обслуживания
  6. товарный знак
  7. секрет фирмы
  8. средство правовой защиты
  9. исключительное право
  10. вдохновлять, побуждать
  11. недобросовестная конкуренция
  12. излагать

1

7. Insert the correct preposition:

1

  1. control ___
  2. remedies ___
  3. to apply ___
  4. to exclude ___
  5. to extend ___
  6. to inform ___
  7. to interfere ___

1

8. Translate the following sentences into English.

  1. Термин «наименование места происхождения»[4] описывает как географическое происхождение товара, так и его отличительные характеристики, определяемые особыми географическими условиями или методами производства. Термин «наименование места происхождения» отличен от термина «указание места происхождения»[5], имеющего отношение только к географии производства. Так, сыр рокфор[6] представляет пример наименования места происхождения, поскольку данное название указывает как на географию происхождения, так и на характеристики продукта. В то же время «парижские» духи - название, указывающее лишь на географию происхождения продукта и, следовательно, представляющее собой указание происхождения товара.
  2. В законодательстве об интеллектуальной собственности существуют важные различия между «исключительными» и «неисключительными» (простыми) лицензиями. Исключительная лицензия необязательно является единственной[7] лицензией, выдаваемой лицензиаром. Выдача исключительной лицензии гарантирует, что лицензиар не будет предоставлять другие лицензии, разрешающие использование прав в том же объеме и сфере деятельности, какие указаны в исключительной лицензии. Тем не менее, владелец прав может выдать неограниченное количество неисключительных лицензий на использование тех же прав. В случае выдачи неисключительных лицензий право собственности остается за лицензиаром.
  3. Лицо, чьи права были нарушены вследствие недобросовестной конкуренции[8], имеет право на удовлетворение требований гражданского иска[9], предъявленного нарушителю[10]. Так, подделка товарного знака давно считается примером недобросовестной конкуренции. Другие правовые категории, представляющие собой типичные примеры недобросовестной конкуренции, включают обманную рекламу[11], дискредитацию товаров[12], нарушение коммерческой тайны, нарушение права на публичное использование, а также неправомерное завладение.

Reading 2: Copyright and Fair Use

  1. Study the following scheme representing the main works covered by copyright:

  1. The text below introduces the key terms used when speaking about intellectual property. Think of an appropriate heading for each paragraph of the text.

1

1. ______

2. ______

3. ______

4. ______

5. ______

6. ______

7. ______

8. ______

9. ______

10. ______

1

The US Copyright Act

1. COPYRIGHT is an exclusive right granted or conferred by the government on the creator of a work to exclude others from reproducing it, adapting it, distributing it to the public, performing it in public, or displaying it in public. In other words, copyright is the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work (also known as LDMA works).

2. The U.S. Copyright Act is Federal legislation enacted by Congress under its Constitutional grant of authority to protect the writings of authors. Changing technology has led to an ever expanding understanding of the word “writings”. The Copyright Act now reaches architectural design, software, the graphic arts, motion pictures, and sound recordings. Given the scope of the Federal legislation and its provision precluding inconsistent state law, the field is almost exclusively a Federal one. The federal agency charged with administering the act is the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.

3. To be covered by copyright a work must be original and in a concrete “medium of expression”. Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered. The basic duration of a copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years.

4. The U.S. Copyright Act grants certain exclusive rights to the owner of a copyright in a work. These exclusive rights are different from the rights given to a person who merely owns a copy of the work. A copyright gives the owner the exclusive rights:

- to reproduce the copyrighted work;

- to distribute copies of the work to the public;

- to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

- to display the copyrighted work publicly;

- to produce or license derivatives of his or her work.

These rights are not without limit, however, as they are specifically limited by “fair use[13]” and several other specific limitations set forth in the Copyright Act. The rights granted under copyright law are described in more detail below:

5. The reproduction right is perhaps the most important right granted by the Copyright Act. Under this right, no one other than the copyright owner may make any reproductions or copies of the work. Examples of unauthorized acts which are prohibited under this right include photocopying a book, copying a computer software program, using a cartoon character on a t-shirt, and incorporating a portion of another's song into a new song. It is not necessary that the entire original work be copied for an infringement of the reproduction right to occur. All that is necessary is that the copying be “substantial and material”.

6. The right to make a derivative work overlaps somewhat with the reproduction right. According to the Copyright Act, a derivative work is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted.

A derivative work usually involves a type of transformation, such as the transformation of a novel into a motion picture. In the computer industry, a second version of a software program is generally considered a derivative work based upon the earlier version.

7. The distribution right grants the copyright holder the exclusive right to make a work available to the public by sale, rental, lease, or lending. This right allows the copyright holder to prevent the distribution of unauthorized copies of a work. In addition, the right allows the copyright holder to control the first distribution of a particular authorized copy. However, the distribution right is limited by the “first sale doctrine”, which states that after the first sale or distribution of a copy, the copyright holder can no longer control what happens to that copy. Thus, after a book has been purchased at a book store (the first sale of a copy), the copyright holder has no say over how that copy is further distributed. Thus, the book could be rented or resold without the permission of the copyright holder.

Congress has enacted several limitations to the first sale doctrine, including a prohibition on the rental of software and phonorecords.

8. The public performance right allows the copyright holder to control the public performance of certain copyrighted works. The scope of the performance right is limited to the following types of works:

- literary works;

- musical works;

- dramatic works;

- choreographic works;

- pantomimes;

- motion pictures;

- audio visual works.

Under the public performance right, a copyright holder is allowed to control when the work is performed “publicly”. A performance is considered “public” when the work is performed in a “place open to the public or at a place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances are gathered”. A performance is also considered to be public if it is transmitted to multiple locations, such as through television and the radio. Thus, it would be a violation of the public performance right in a motion picture to rent a video and to show it in a public park or theater without obtaining a license from the copyright holder. In contrast, the performance of the video on a home TV where friends and family are gathered would not be considered a “public” performance and would not be prohibited under the Copyright Act.

9. The public performance right is generally held to cover computer software, since software is considered a literary work under the Copyright Act. In addition, many software programs fall under the definition of an audio visual work. The application of the public performance right to software has not been fully developed, except that it is clear that a publicly available video game is controlled by this right.

10. The public display right is similar to the public performance right, except that this right controls the public “display” of a work. This right is limited to the following types of works:

- literary works;

- musical works;

- dramatic works;

- choreographic works;

- pantomimes;

- pictorial works;

- graphical works;

- sculptural works;

- stills (individual images) from motion pictures and other audio visual works.

Vocabulary Focus

3. Look these words up in a dictionary. Do you pronounce them correctly?

Architectural, audiovisual, author, covered, derivative, detail, dichotomy, doctrine, exclusive, merely, multiple, to own, phonorecord, to purchase, recording, to transmit, violation.

4. Read the text and find the words with the following meanings:

1) Audiotapes, compact discs, computer chips that store sounds, and the like.

2) A category of copyrightable work consisting of the sounds that are recorded in a phonorecord.

3) A work based on a preexisting work that is changed, condensed, recast, or embellished in some way.

4) An act that disregards an agreement or a right.

5) An area in which something acts or operates or has power or control.

6) Having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual.

7) Obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service by public.

8) One of the six exclusive rights held by a copyright owner, under which the copyright owner has the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale, lease, or rental.

9) To broadcast over the airwaves, as in radio or television.

10) To keep from happening or arising; to have the effect of preventing; to make impossible, esp. beforehand.

11) To order by virtue of superior authority; decree.

5. Here is a more comprehensive list of key terms used to speak about copyright.

Match the terms (1–15) with their definitions (a–o).

TERM / DEFINITION
  1. audiovisual work
/
  1. An exception to the exclusive right of a copyright owner to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work. Under this principle, the copyright owner has the right to sell a copy of a book but not the right to control subsequent sales of that copy.

  1. author
/
  1. Certain rights of authors beyond those strictly recognized in copyright law.

  1. compilation
/
  1. A copyrightable work consisting of a collection and assembly of preexisting material.

  1. fair use
/
  1. Either the real person who creates a copyrightable work or the employer, corporate or individual, of a person who creates a copyrightable work within the scope of employment.

  1. first sale doctrine
/
  1. A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment or a commissioned work that the parties agree in writing to treat as a work made for hire.

  1. idea-expression dichotomy
/
  1. The degree of resemblance between a copyrighted work and a second work that is sufficient to constitute copyright infringement by the second work.

  1. joint authors
/
  1. The distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public.

  1. moral rights[14]
/
  1. The act of exact, unauthorized, and illegal reproduction on a commercial scale of a copyrighted work or of a trademarked product.

  1. phonorecord
/
  1. The fundamental rule of law that copyright does not protect an idea; copyright protects only specific expressions of an idea.

  1. piracy
/
  1. A copyrightable work consisting of images that are related, presented in a series, and intended to be shown by the use of a machine, as well as any sound accompanying the work.

  1. publication
/
  1. The collaborating creators of a single copyrightable work who merge their separate contributions to the work.

  1. renewal
/
  1. The material objects that store or fix copyrightable sounds, other than soundtrack accompanying a motion picture.

  1. reverse engineering
/
  1. A defense to a charge of copyright or trademark infringement.

  1. substantial similarity
/
  1. The extension of a registration of a trademark or the extension of a copyright.

  1. work made for hire
/
  1. A method of obtaining technical information by starting with a publicly available product and determining what it is made of, what makes it work, or how it was produced.

  1. Give English equivalents and their explanations to the following Russian terms used when speaking about IP:

1