Chapter 8. Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is a consideration of intellectual capabilities that has market value, such as (and perhaps not limited to) inventions, ideas or expressions, business methods, industrial processes, and chemical formula. Intellectual property is an intangible business asset that has elastic value determined by the marketplace.
An intellectual property asset must be protected through an appropriate legal means, such as a patent, trademark, service mark, or copyright. State, federal, and international intellectual property laws provide protection (see Figure 8-1).
Figure 8-1. The provisions for providing regulated forms of intellectual property can be thought about in several different ways.
Intellectual property consists of two principal perspectives. These are basically considered to be industrial property and copyrights of literary works, including music and artistic works:
The term “intellectual property” was formally defined in the 1967 Stockholm Convention, which established the World Intellectual Property Organization. Article 2 (viii) of the Convention provides that “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 endeavors
Scientific discoveries
Industrial designs
Trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations
Protection against unfair competition
All other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary, or artistic fields
Protection of intellectual property is the subject of many international agreements. The need for comprehensive international agreements became apparent in the nineteenth century and then resulted in the creation of the Paris and Berne Unions. This subject is also provided full treatment in Chapter 9, “Protection: Copyrights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, Patents, and Publishing Intellectual Property.”
The Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris on March 20, 1883, established the Paris Union. Originally signed by 11 countries, more than 100 countries are now parties to this convention. Its objectives were to secure legal protection for industrial property and to encourage uniformity of law by superseding the system of bilateral treaties. Among the key principles adopted by this convention is the principle of “national treatment,” which provides that member states shall accord to nationals of other member states the same advantages under their laws relating to the protection of industrial property as they accord their own nationals. The Paris Convention has been revised on seven occasions since its adoption and is now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The Berne Union was established to confront the problem of international editorial and literary piracy in Europe and America in the nineteenth century. The Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works[1] was signed at Berne on September 9, 1886. More than 80 countries are parties to this convention. One of the convention's guiding principles is that member states must accord the same protection to the copyright of nationals of other member states as to their own. It also prescribes minimum standards of protection. For example, copyright protection generally continues throughout the author's life and for 50 years thereafter. The Berne Convention has been revised seven times and is also administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
[1] For more information, please reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works.
Since the creation of the Paris and Berne Unions in the nineteenth century, over 30 global treaty arrangements have entered into force, as well as a variety of regional treaty arrangements, governing different aspects of the intellectual property protection. The development of new technologies involving the semiconductor chip, computer software, and biotechnology has led to the promulgation of such treaties as the Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, signed in Washington on May 26, 1989, and the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, signed at Budapest on April 28, 1977.
Because of the increase in international trade in intellectual property over the past decade, it has become apparent that there is a compelling need for greater international cooperation. Protection of intellectual property rights is now the subject of much interest and debate upon the world's intellectual property theater. Let's take a definitive look at the various forms of intellectual property.