A.

INTRODUCTION
 Intellectual Property
• Defined: an ownership interest in useful
information or knowledge.
• Role of municipal (local/national) law:
 Creates intellectual property rights.
 Establishes rules for transferring intellectual property
rights.
• Role of international law:
 Establishes guidelines for the uniform definition and
protection of intellectual property.
 Makes it easier for owners to acquire rights in different
countries.

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 B. COPYRIGHTS
 Copyright Defined: right in an
original intellectual creation in the
fields of art, literature, music or
science that have been fixed in a
tangible medium for the purpose of
communication.
• Original intellectual creation (or
work): something that the author has
infused with creativity.
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 B. COPYRIGHTS
• Works in the fields of art, literature,
music or science:
 Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic
works.
 Sound recordings.

 Films.

 Radio and television broadcasts.

 Computer programs (in some countries).

• Works fixed in a tangible medium of

expression: medium that is permanent for
at least some time 3
 B. COPYRIGHTS
 No formalities are required to
establish a copyright
• No requirement to use © or the word
copyright
• No requirement to disclose the copyright
owner
• No requirement to state the date when
the work was first published
• No requirement to register

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 B. COPYRIGHTS
 Duration: a copyright lasts for 50
years following the author's death
(Berne Convention).
 Scope of rights: copyright holder
may only restrict the use of the work
itself.
• May not prevent others from using the
idea or the knowledge contained in the
copyrighted work.
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 B. COPYRIGHTS

• Pecuniary Rights (i.e., to exploit a

work for economic gain):
 Right to reproduce.
 Right to distribute.

• Exhaustion of Rights: once a work has been

distributed to the public, the right to control its
distribution comes to an end.
 Right of performance.

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 B. COPYRIGHTS

• Moral Rights (i.e., to prohibit others

from tampering with a work).
 These include:
• Right to object to distortion, mutilation or
modification.
• Right to be recognized as the author.
• Right to control public access to the work.
• Right to correct or retract a work.

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 B. COPYRIGHTS

 WTO’s Agreement on Trade- Related

Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(Agreement on TRIPS): requires WTO
member states to comply with the
provisions of the Berne Convention.
• Caveat: Does not require WTO member states to
comply with the Berne Convention provisions
granting moral rights to authors.

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 B. COPYRIGHTS
 Uses that do not constitute an
infringement of a copyright
(commonly are):
• Use in a court or administrative
proceeding
• Use by the police if the material (such
as a portrait) is needed to maintain
public safety
• Use for instructional purposes in schools
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 B. COPYRIGHTS

• Use for a purely private purpose

• Use in brief quotations in scholarly or
literary works, or in reviews
• Use in extended quotations of
newsworthy speeches or political
commentaries

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 C. PATENTS
 Patent Defined: rights in new, non-
obvious, and useful machines,
articles of manufacture, compositions
of matter, or processes.

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 C. PATENTS
 Requirements for obtaining a patent –
an inventor must show that the invention is:
• New: that no other inventor can have obtained a
patent for the same invention.
• Non-obvious: that the subject matter of an
invention was not obvious at the time the invention
was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art
to which said subject matter pertains.
• Useful: that the machine, product, or process is one
that can be used in industry or commerce.

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 C. PATENTS
 Inventions Excluded from Patent
Protection (according to WTO’s
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights ):
• Inventions that harm the ordre public or
morality.
• Inventions involving diagnostic,
therapeutic, and surgical methods for
the treatment of humans or animals.
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 C. PATENTS

• New plants and animals other than

microorganisms
 Caveat: states must provide protection for plant
varieties.
• Inventions that involve essentially
biological processes for the production
of plants or animals.

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 C. PATENTS
 Duration of Patents: The WTO’s
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights requires that
term of a patent be no less than 20 years.
 National Character of Patents: a
patent is only valid within the territory of
the state granting it.
• States cannot prevent the use of patented
technology outside their territory.
• States will stop the importation of goods from
third countries that infringe a patent.
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 D. TRADEMARKS
 Trademarks Defined: any word,
name, symbol, or device that merchants
and others use to identify themselves and
their products
 Acquiring Trademarks
• By use
 Famous foreign trademarks will be protected
to prevent confusion of local consumers
• By registration
 Not available in a few countries
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 D. TRADEMARKS
 Term of Registered Trademarks:
the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights sets
the minimum term at 7 years.
• Registration may be renewed
indefinitely.

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 F. ORGANIZATIONS
 World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO)
• Administers the Paris and Berne Unions
and other intellectual property conventions.
• Sponsors and hosts conferences for the
development of new intellectual property
rights agreements.
• Promotes the modernization of national
intellectual property laws.

Web link: http://www.wipo.int

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 F. ORGANIZATIONS
 Council for Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (Council for TRIPS)
• Responsible for overseeing the WTO’s
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (Agreement
on TRIPS).
 Council monitors WTO member state
compliance with the Agreement on TRIPS.
 Consults with WIPO and cooperates with

WIPO’s constituent bodies.

Web link: www.wto.org

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 G. TREATIES
 Agreement on TRIPS (World Trade
Organization's Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights).
• State parties: all WTO member states.
• Purpose: to create a multilateral and
comprehensive set of rights and
obligations governing the international
trade in intellectual property.
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 G. TREATIES

• Common minimum of protection

established by TRIPS for intellectual property
rights.
 WTO member state must observe the substantive
provisions of the Paris, Berne, Rome and IPAC
conventions
 Fill-in-the-gaps rules in the above treaties (e.g., it
specifies the term of a patent) are provided.
 Basic principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade are extended to the field intellectual
property rights (i.e., nondiscrimina-tion, national
treatment, transparency and simplification).

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 G. TREATIES
 Agreements Establishing
Common Minimum Standards for
Granting Intellectual Property
Rights
• Berne Convention: The International
Union for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Property of 1886.
• Paris Convention: The International
Union for Protection of Industrial
Property of 1883.
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 G. TREATIES

• Rome Convention: The International

Convention for the Protection of
Performers, Producers of Phonograms,
and Broadcasting Organization of 1961.
• IPIC Convention: Treaty on Intellectual
Property Rights
in Respect of Integrated
Circuits of 1989.
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 H. TRANSFER
 Ways to transfer intellectual
property rights internationally:
• Owner works property rights abroad.
• Owner transfers rights to another.
• Owner licenses another to work rights.
• Government grants a compulsory
license to a third party.

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 H. TRANSFER
 License
• Defined: a non-exclusive revocable
privilege that allows a licensee to use a
licensor's property.
• Created by contract.
 Standard contractual rules are
used to interpret licenses.
 Unfair competition laws regulate

the scope of licenses.

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 H. TRANSFER
 Compulsory License
• Available if the owner of intellectual
property (e.g., a patent or a copyright)
refuses to work the property in the
country within a certain period of time.
 A third party may apply for a compulsory
license.
 Issued by the government without the

consent of the owner.

• Not subject to the same rules that apply
to licenses.
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