Intellectual property right is a legal concept that confers rights to owners and creators of the work, for their intellectual creativity. Such rights can be granted for areas related to literature, music, invention etc, which are used in the business practices.
In general, the intellectual property law offers exclusionary rights to the creator or inventor against any misappropriation or use of work without his/her prior knowledge. Intellectual property law establishes equilibrium by granting rights for limited duration of time.
Every nation has framed its own intellectual property laws. But on international level it is governed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
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The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883 and the ‘Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works’ in 1886 were first conventions which have recognized the importance of safeguarding intellectual property.
Both the treaties are under the direct administration of the WIPO. The WIPO convention lay down following list of the activities or work which are covered by intellectual property rights
(ii) Scientific discoveries
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(iii) Protection against unfair competition
(iv) Literary, artistic and scientific works
(v) Inventions in all fields of human endeavor
(vi) Performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts
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(vii) Trademarks, service marks and commercial names and designations
(viii) All other rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.
Copyright, one of the forms of intellectual property law, offers exclusive rights for protecting the authorship of original & creative work like dramatic, musical and literary in nature.
Symbolized as there the term ‘exclusive rights’ mean that the holder has the right to determine who will be credited with the work, who will perform the work and who will be benefited financially from it. However, copyright does not extend any protection to the facts, methods of operation, system, ideas except to the ways in which they can be expressed.
The Indian copyright Act, 1957 facilitates the owner for reproducing or reusing their copyrighted items, to prepare its derivate, to public their work and to distribute copies of their creative items.
Copyright aims to protect the work of creator, transformed in a tangible form of expression. It includes artwork, plays, movies, shows, various types of music, sound and songs, books, manuscripts, written work and all types of images, photos, pictures, drawings and graphics.
Being a copyrighted item does not mean that other person can’t use or write on subject matter of particular item. For example, if a person has written on a new motor cycle and he has copyrighted his article then it means that other person can’t use that article but he is free to write his thoughts on the similar motor cycle.
Copyright holder does not hold the nights by themselves. Instead of it they relinquish it to publishers or big companies by entering into the contractual agreement. Criminal Sanctions are made for targeting the innumerable factors which determine the length
However, certificate of copyright registration and entries made their upon serves as the prima facie evidence, at the time of any dispute, in the court. But there is a procedure exists for registering the both published/unpublished work in the Register of Copyrights, maintained in the Copyright Office of the Department of Education.
If the work has been registered as the unpublished in the Register of Copyright but subsequently it is published then the requisite changes can be made by the applicant in the Register of Copyright with addition to prescribed fees.
It is required to be in written form duly signed and authenticated by assignor or by his authorized agent. It should legibly specify the amount of work and rights which are assigned to the other person.
To avoid emergence of conflict in near future, time with duration and territorial area should be explicitly mentioned. It should clearly specify the royalty which is required to be paid to author or his legal representative.
The mentioned assignment should be clearly subject to termination, extension on terms & conditions duly agreed and signed by both parties. There are some acts which have been put under the head of ‘copyright infringements’ –
(i) Preparing infringing copies for the purpose of selling or hiring or let them to be hire by third party.
(ii) Authorizing for the performance of work in such public places where such performance gives result to the copyright infringement
(iii) Making distribution of the infringe copies for trading with a motto of affecting prejudicially the copyright owner interests.
(iv) Public exhibiting the infringing copies for the purpose of trade
(v) Importing the infringing copies into the India.
Copyright helps in protecting the original published/unpublished work, which can be fall under the different heads of literature, musical dramatic, artistic and intellectual. If we say the economic and social development of the nation relies upon the creativity skills of its people then there would be no exaggeration.
Copyright helps in making protective shield, which is conducive for the growth rate of writers, artist’s producers, musicians, cinematographic artists and induce them toward indulging into more creative work. By copyrighted their creation, copyrig’1 holder can enjoys following rights
(i) One can use, re use, reproduce the copies and sell the copies.
(ii) One can import or export whole or part of work.
(iii) One is free to create any derivative work.
(iv) One can publicly demonstrate its work.
(v) One can sell or pass its rights to other person.
(vi) One can indulge in transmitting or displaying work by radio or video.
In case of the foreign work, only those work of nations are protected in India which are the member of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Universal Copyright convention and the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement through the International Copyright Order.
Similarly to grant protection to the Indian work in throughout the world, India has also entered into the below international conventions on copyright and neighboring (related) rights –
(i) Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic works.
(ii) Universal Copyright Convention.
(iii) Multilateral Convention with the motto of protecting the producers of phonograms against the phonograms duplication done unauthorized.
(iv) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
The Indian Government has established Copyright Enforcement Advisory Council (CEAC) as an apex body for dealing in copyright related issues. No special courts have been set up for hearing cases pertaining to copyright related matters. The act facilitates the person to Either contact directly to the board or take the help of normal courts regarding copyright issues.
The board is not only taking care of infringe cases but also govern all the issues related to copyright in India. The Copyright Board is quasi judiciary in nature and it comprises of 2 or more but less than 14 members. The chairman of the board enjoys the same level that of Appellate Board Judge.
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights:
Administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is the international agreement which laid down the minimum standards for different parts of the intellectual property (IP) regulation they said agreement was negotiated at the end of the 9uay round of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT).
The TRIPS encompasses of the various requirements which laws in different countries are required to abide for along with the specification of the procedures, remedies and disputes. In the Article 15(1) of TRIPS, ‘sign’, which has been used in part or form of the ‘trademark’ in the trademark legislation of various jurisdiction in throughout the world?
The Madrid system for the international registration of marks:
The Madrid system is seen as the pivotal international system for enabling the trademark registration in more than one jurisdiction. It offers the centrally administered system for achieving the trademark registrations in the jurisdiction of member nations by extending and facilitating the protection of the international registration obtained through the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The international registration is said to be based on the application or registration which is acquired by the trademark applicant within its home jurisdiction.
The foremost benefit derived from the Madrid system is that it facilitates the trademark owner in obtaining trademark protection in multiple jurisdictions by filing the application only in one jurisdiction on the payment of one set of fees.
This system allows the applicant to make amendments and complete registration process across all the jurisdictions by applying through the single administrative process. Moreover, it is easy to extend the international registration coverage to the other member jurisdictions at any given point of time.
Trademark Law Treaty:
The trademark law treaty aims to establish the system through which jurisdictions of member nations agree for standardizing the various procedural requirements of the registration process in connection to the trademark.