Legal midterm summary
Intellectual property (IP): is a category of property that includes intangible
creations of the human intellect Protects intangible economic interests. Capable of
being owned and dealt with as other types of personal property. In other words, you
can buy, sell, rent and let other people inherit your IP.
- Provides motivation for creators Will lead to constant creation and
development because everything that exist is already protected.
- Allows creators to exploit their works commercially
- Allow creators, or owners, to benefit from their own work or investment in a
creation.
- It encourages creation by rewarding a creator or owner for creating or
distributing work
Ways to protect IP
inventions
One product might have multiple IPR (intellectual property rights)
- Trade mark on logo, trade secret, copyright
One idea might have multiple forms of IP
- Books, videogames, merchandise and movies etc.
One product might have multiple IP
- Story, Characters, Performance, Film, Broadcast, Image, Design, Music,
Name and Logo
Jurisdiction: These laws are territorial – Dutch law applies if you are operating in the
Netherlands The law is different in different countries.
Copyright: The purpose of copyright is to promote creativity and the spread of
knowledge.
- It allows you to protect and exploit your work and regulates your use of other
people’s work.
- Copyright balances the rights of stakeholders.
Justifications for copyright
- Utilitarian/ Economic Rights Theory (money): Emphasizes the economic
role of copyright as a tool for stimulating innovation and dissemination of
creative works.
, o Landes and Posner - secures intellectual property from becoming a
public good.
o The right holder’s powers are limited in order to uphold the balance
between the interest of the creator and distributor, against the public
enjoyment and benefit of a public domain.
- Natural Rights Theory (honor): Takes the view that copyright arises from the
personality of the individual creator of the work.
o John Locke -ownership of creative work on the basis that IP rights are
fundamentally the same as all property rights. Therefore, through
labour an individual might convert the goods of nature into private
property
o Mark Rose -the romantic notion of the author as a proprietor (eigenaar).
o Lends itself to longer and stronger protection for authors in comparison
to the economic approach
European Copyright Directive
- Article 15– protection of press publications concerning online uses – allows
the press to benefit from part of the earnings received by social networks.
o Problem example: if Facebook posts something from a news source
and makes benefits the news source should also benefits
- Article 17– obliges online platforms to obtain authorization from right holders
to upload works and, where appropriate, to grant them fair remuneration
What can be copyrighted?
- Literary, musical, dramatic works.
- Pantomimes and choreographic works.
- Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.
- Motion pictures and other audiovisual works.
- Sound recordings.
- Architectural works.
- Collected works and compilations of facts (with a level of originality).
What cannot be copyrighted?
- Facts and ideas.
- Procedures, processes, systems, or methods of operation.
- Scenes à faire.
- Titles and names.
- Typefaces.
- Government documents.
- Public domain works.
Copyright basics
Original– own intellectual creation; this does not signify novelty.
- Fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
Arises automatically– no registration.
- Protects only the expression of ideas – not just an idea.
- Protects your work if it is: literary, scientific or artistic (books, music, drawings,
photographs, films etc.)
, Gives you the exclusive right to copy, license, lend, perform, communicate your work
to the public.
- Generally, lasts 70 years after the death of the creator
Territorial right – differs between countries.
Copyright use
Infringement means taking the whole or substantial part of someone else’s work
without permission.
Unless you fall within an exception:
- Quotation, announcement or criticism.
- Parody.
- News reporting.
- Teaching.
- The work has fallen into the public domain.
- The creator has given a creative commons license
Fair use in the US (NOT in NL)
Copying for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as:
- comment upon,
- criticize, or
- parody
Does not need permission of the author. Measuring fair use –the four factors:
1. The purpose and character of your use.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion taken.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market.
5. Fifth” factor –are you good or bad?
Creative commons (CC): a way to keep your work open for others to use under
certain conditions. Founded and pioneered by Lawrence Lessig
- All rights reserved -> Some rights reserved.
Aims:
- Enlarging the body of creative works for use and sharing legally.
- Creating an alternative to the “all rights reserved” regime.
Lessig maintains that modern culture is dominated by traditional content distributors
in order to maintain and strengthen their monopolies on cultural products and that it
does not match the sharing mentality of the Internet.
CC license
- CC offers different forms of licenses for free.
- Regular principles of contract law apply to these licenses.
- Licensors will indicate which form of license is used on work
- CC licenses as giving permission upfront as opposed to restricting use upfront.