Lecture 7 – Introduction to Intellectual Property Law
Contents
COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................................................... 1
DESIGN RIGHTS..................................................................................................................................... 5
PATENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 8
TRADEMARKS ..................................................................................................................................... 11
THE LAW OF PASSING OFF ................................................................................................................. 13
Intellectual Property Rights:
E.g. paint a picture, you have 2 rights: intellectual property and copyright over the painting. Sell the
painting to the national gallery, the property right is transferred to the new owner. You still have the
intellectual property right over the painting. If the gallery intends to reproduce the painting, in a
book, the gallery only has the right to own the painting.
Key Common Characteristics
• Registered trade marks, registered designs and patents – all incorporeal movable properties.
• Copyright and unregistered designs – property rights
• Own discrete legal existence
• May be exploited by several parties at any one time
• Public interests are often at stake
• Breach of intellectual property rights may cause serious damage for the right holder –
remedies available. These damages could be economical.
E.g. if you write a book and a publisher without your consent reproduces the book and sells
on the market you are not able to get the renumeration. Economically suffer damages.
Morally also as you are the author.
COPYRIGHT
Meaning of Copyright
• What is copyright and why is it important?
Copyright protects the expression of ideas. It does not protect ideas themselves, only
protects the expression of ideas.
, E.g. Dan Brown wrote a book, later on it was adopted into a film. The book is about the new
theory that Jesus has a daughter and that daughter has children and so have a family,
revolutionary theory about Christianity. However, this novel was written based on the
research conducted by two historians. They previously wrote a book, in which they found a
lot of evidence which support the theory. The two historians made a claim against the writer
for the infringement of their copyright, arguing that Dan Browns book used the ideas they
developed therefore it is a breach of their copyright. However, the court was not in favour of
the claim because dan brown did not copy and paste their writings, he borrowed the idea of
the historians, so the copyright does not protect the idea, only protects the expressions.
• Main statute – Copyright, Design and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988
Copyright consists of two aspects:
• Economic Rights – intended to encourage and to reward creativity by permitting the
copyright holder (not necessarily the creator) to exploit a work for gain for a limited
period.
• Moral Rights – they seek to protect the creator’s interests in the work. not related to
economic consequences, the dignity of the artist.
Protection
• Copyright protection extends to “every production in literary, scientific and artistic domain”
• E.g., books, poems, dramas, motion pictures, choreography, musical works (including
sound recordings), films and broadcasts, architectural works etc. It even extends to
computer programs and databases.
• Copyright protection is conferred automatically when the requirements of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 are fulfilled.
Requirements for Copyright Protection
Key Concept:
ORIGINALITY. Copyright only protects original works.
• Old UK law test - whether a sufficient level of “skill, labour and judgment” was
expended by the author
• Although, newer originality test developed in EU law – “the author’s own intellectual
creation”. Must be created by the author, new elements and not copied.
• Literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works must also be recorded, in writing or
otherwise, to be entitled to copyright protection. The work must be recorded in
writing or otherwise, on paper or recorded on a mobile phone etc. CDPA s.3(2), (3).
• The creator or the work needs to have sufficient connection with the UK or a specified
country or territory. If you are a British Citizen, or you create the work in the UK, then
