Intellectual Property , And it's Classifications. Nature, Purposes, and Necessity, as well as TRIPS covers Rights.

 

Definition of Intellectual Property (Law IP Law)
 Intellectual property law is that area of law concerning legal rights in properties created out of human intellect i.e. creations of the human mind such as ideas, inventions, signs, and information. This law regulates the creation, use, and exploitation of such creations of the human mind or creative efforts.
This law covers:

• Creations of intellectual property.
• Protection of intellectual property and use of intellectual property associated with creative effort or commercial reputation and good will.

Terminological Definitions of IP Law

1. IP law deters others from copying or taking unfair advantage of the work or the reputation of another.
2. IP law provides remedies should infringement (wrongdoing) happen.
3. Remedies are in the form of civil, criminal, and administrative action.
4. Intellectual property refers to the creations of the human mind.
5. Inventions,
6. literary and artistic works.
7. shapes; and symbols.
8. commerce.
9. names, and images used in commerce.
10. Creations of the human mind designated as intellectual property are intangible things.
11. The subject matter of intellectual property is very wide. Intellectual property includes literary and artistic works, films, computer programs, inventions, designs and marks used by traders for their goods or services.

Classification of Intellectual Property

There are several different forms of rights or areas of law giving rise to rights that together make up intellectual property. They are:

1.  Industrial property.
2. Copyright.
3. Others right.

1=Industrial property:

 Such property relates to property in the Industrial, commercial, agricultural and extractive industries and to all manufactured and natural products (Art. 13 of Paris Convention). It is created through the intervention of the industry. Industrial property owner enjoys a monopoly in an invention. Traditionally, a number of intellectual property rights are known as industrial property including:

 Patents – a patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention - a product or the process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem,

Trademarks – a trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services produced or provided by an individual or a company.

Designs – an industrial design refers to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of an article.

 Geographical indications (GI) – a geographical indication is a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation due to that place of origin.

 2= Copyright

• Right to copy a work.
• Copyright subsists (exists) in various works, for example, literary works, artistic works, musical works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts.
• The author of a work is the person who creates it and is normally the first owner of the copyright.

Copyright gives the owner the right to do certain things in relation to the work-:

• Making a copy. 
• Reproducing the work.
• Translating the work.
• Adapting the work.
• Broadcasting the work or giving a public performance of the work.

Copyright does not create a monopoly in a particular work. For example, one can make a copy of a work for the purposes of non-commercial use, private study, criticism, or review. It does not protect ideas, only the expression of an idea (that is its tangible form).

3/ Others right

• Related right (neighboring right)

A closely associated field with copyright is "related rights" or rights related to copyright that encompass rights similar or identical to those of copyright, although sometimes more limited and of shorter duration.

There are some beneficiaries of related rights are:

• Performers (such as actors and musicians) in their performances.
• Producers of phonograms (for example, compact discs) in their sound recordings, and
• Broadcasting organizations, in their radio and television programs.

Economic right

• The economic rights relating to copyright i.e. sell, distribute etc. begin with the creation and fixation of the work, and last for not less than 50 years after the creator's death.
•  Related rights enjoy shorter terms, normally 50 years after the performance, recording or broadcast has taken place.

Moral right

Copyright and the protection of performers also include moral rights meaning the right of attribution (i.e., the right to be identified as the author of the work the right to claim authorship of a work), and integrity (i.e., the right to protect the work from alterations harmful to the author's reputation – the right to oppose changes to the work that could harm the creator's reputation).
Anyone else who does any of the things of copying without permission of the owner infringes the copyright or related right. Persons without permission may be subject to legal action taken by the owner/licensee for that infringement.

TRIPS covers IP rights in the following areas:

1. Copyright and Related Rights.
2.  Trademarks.
3. Geographical indications.
4. Industrial Designs.
5. Patents.
6. Layout Designs (Topographies/a mask Integrated Circuits (IC of chip).
7. Protection of undisclosed information.
8. Control of Anti-competitive practices in contractual linens.

[6 - Layout-Designs (Topographies/a mask work) of Integrated Circuits (IC or 'chip') i.e., the arrangement on a chip of semiconductor devices such as transistors and passive electronic components such as resistors and interconnections. The layout is called a mask work because, in photolithographic processes, the multiple etched layers within actual ICs are each created using a mask, called the photomask, to permit or block the light at specific locations, sometimes for hundreds of chips on a wafer simultaneously.

 Because of the functional nature of the mask geometry, the designs cannot be effectively protected under copyright law (except perhaps as decorative art).
Similarly, because the individual lithographic mask works are not clearly protectable subject matter, they also cannot be effectively protected under patent law, although any processes implemented in the work may be patentable.

So, since the 1990s, national governments have been granting copyright-like exclusive rights conferring time-limited exclusivity to reproduction of a particular layout.]

Nature of Intellectual Property

Generally speaking, intellectual property is property since it can be owned, possessed, or transferred. Legally speaking, intellectual property is property owned with the rights of possession, use, and enjoyment, and which the owner can bestow, collateralize, encumber, mortgage, sell, or transfer, and can exclude everyone else from it. Jurisprudential character involving rights and duties.

 Purchasers' rights and intellectual property rights, not absolute right to use/exploit, obligations to register, etc. Art 42 right to property and 152 ("property" includes property of every description movable or immovable, corporeal or incorporeal, and commercial and industrial undertakings, and any right or interest in any such property or undertaking;).

Purposes of Protecting Intellectual Property

Partly on morality and partly on the concept of reward to control the use and exploitation. There are three (3) theories, natural, reward, and compensatory theory.

Natural theory: -Recognition - A man should own what he produces, that is what he brings into being,
Reward theory: Encouragement of the creator with reward.
compensatory theory: It ensures compensation for creators.
Protection creates a contract between the inventor or designer and the state. It encourages the dissemination of information and widens the publication of available knowledge. To guard against counterfeiting which is a serious problem and to make economic gains.

The necessity to Study Intellectual Property Law
Intellectual property law is a demanding subject. Many aspects of procedural law are also highly relevant to intellectual property law. The study of intellectual property law cuts across boundaries.

MH Tarek

LLB ( hon's ), LLM

Founder- Mootsolution ( The jurists firm )