Chapter 4 - Intellectual

Property

IT 5105 – Professional Issues in IT

OpenArc Campus - BIT UCSC - Sem V 2016

Upekha Vandebonaupe.vand@gmail.com

Ref : [1] INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ACT, No. 36 OF 2003. [2] http://www.nipo.gov.lk [3] http://intellectualsl.com

[Sri Lanka & Copyrights]

International Dimensions The World Intellectual property

organization (WIPO), a specialized agency in the United Nation’s System, is mandated to promote the protection of Intellectual Property rights in all the member states.

WIPO administers 23 international conventions on Intellectual property at present.

International Dimensions In addition, there are some other international

organizations, which administer certain areas of Intellectual Property. UNESCO (Universal Copyright Convention) World Trade Organization (the Agreement on

Trade related aspects of Intellectual Property rights - the TRIPS Agreement)

International Union for the protection of New Varieties of Plants (International Convention for the protection of New Varieties of Plants)

Sri Lanka Position Sri Lanka is a member of the following multi-

national Conventions.Paris Convention for the Protection of

Industrial Property.Berne Convention for the Protection of

Literary and Artistic Works.Patent Cooperation TreatyTRIPS Agreement

Sri Lanka Position The current Intellectual Property system in

Sir Lanka is governed by the Intellectual Property Act No 36 of 2003 which makes provisions for a variety of Intellectual Property rights and their acquisition , management and enforcement.

The National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO) of Sri Lanka established under this law is the government department, which is responsible for the administration of the intellectual Property System in Sri Lanka.

Intellectual Property Act, No.36 of 2003

Different Types of Intellectual Property Rights

Copyright Industrial Design  Patent  Mark (Trade & Service Marks, Geographical

Indications )

Sri Lankan Explanation of IP Intellectual Property means the rights resulting

from the creations of the human mind. Intellectual Property rights share the

characteristics of other property rights – they can be owned, alienated and licensed.

They allow the creator or owner of a patent, trademark, or copyright etc. to benefit from his or her own creative work.

These rights have been recognized in several international conventions on Intellectual Property.

Sri Lankan Explanation of IP Intellectual Property is traditionally divided

into two categories: (i) Industrial Property which includes patents for

inventions, trademarks and service marks, industrial designs and Geographical Indications.

(ii) Copyright which covers literary and artistic works. The rights of performing artists, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations are known as the related rights or neighboring rights.

Why Protect? Human creativity is the foundation of human

civilization, progress and well-being. The protection of creative efforts encourage

further creations, enhances investment and stimulates transfer of technology and spurs economic growth, creates new industries and employment, and enhances the quality and enjoyment of life.

Why Protect? Thus, an efficient and equitable intellectual

property system can effectively contribute to the economic, technological, social and cultural development.

The intellectual property system attempts to achieve a balance between the rights of the creators and the interest of society as a whole, thereby introducing an environment where the creativity in every sphere of human endeavor can flourish, to the benefit of all.

Copyright Copyright means the rights given by law to

the creators for their literary and artistic works.

The rights takes two forms (a) economic rights(b) moral rights

Why Protected

Copyright protects the rights of the authors of literary and artistic works and ensures them the economic benefits and recognition thereby promoting creativity in literary and artistic fields and investment.

Such creations enhances economic development, education, culture, and enjoyment of life.

What is Covered Copyright covers original literary and artistic

works: writings such as books, computer programs, articles, oral works such as speeches and lectures, dramas, musical works, films, drawings, paintings and photographs.

The woks such as databases and translations are also protected.

Section 6 - Works protected Section 7 - Derivative works protected

What is NOT covered No protection shall be extended to news of

the day published, broadcast, or publicly communicated by any other means.

Section 8 - Works not protected

Formality free

Protection is accorded without any formality such as registration in Sri Lanka.

Economic Vs Moral Rights The economic rights include the right to

reproduce, sell, rent, distribute, communicate to the public, translate etc

The moral rights cover the right to claim the authorship and right to oppose distortion or mutilation of the work.

Section 9 - Economic Rights Section 10 - Moral Rights

Who Owns The author is the owner of economic rights

but there are some exceptions such as a work created by an employee generally belongs to the employer.

When an author receives payment from a corporation or organization to produce a creative or artistic work, it can be considered a work of hire.

Who Owns The economic rights can be assigned or

licensed. The moral rights always belong to the author. Section 14 - Original ownership of economic

rights Section 15 - Presumption of authorship and

of representation of the author. Section 16 - Assignment or license of

author’s rights

Duration Copyright in Sri Lanka is generally protected

during the life of the author and 70 years after his death.

In the case of a work of joint authorship, the economic and moral rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for a further period of seventy years from the date of the death of the last surviving author.

Section 13 - Duration of copyright

Fair Use Reproduction in copies or by any other

means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research, shall not be an infringement of copyright.

Section 11 - Fair use Section 12 - Act of fair use

Infringement of Copyright Any person who willfully infringes any of the rights

protected under Part II of this Act (Copyright) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction after trial before a Magistrate to a fine not exceeding rupees five hundred thousand or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment, and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction such fine or term of imprisonment or both such fine and imprisonment may be doubled.

Section 178 - Infringement of Copyright

Infringement of Copyright The Magistrate may, whether the alleged

offender is convicted or not, order that all copies of the work and all implements used for the infringement, or all plates in the possession of the alleged offender, which appear to him to be infringing copies, or plates or implements used for the purpose of making infringing copies, shall be destroyed or delivered up to the owner of the right, or otherwise dealt with in such manner as the Magistrate may think fit.

Protection abroad The woks of Sri Lankan authors are

protected in all the member countries of the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works under the national law of the particular country.

ICT Related IPs Different rights may be used to protect

different aspects of a piece of software. SL IP Act No 36 of 2003 doesn’t detail much

about ICT correlation with IP when compared to the level of UK and US laws.

Computer Programs/Software Definition of Computer - Electronic or similar

device having information processing capabilities.

Definition of Computer Program - A set of instructions expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, which is capable, when incorporated in a medium that the computer can read, of causing a computer to perform or achieve a particular task or result.

Computer Programs/Software Protected under Copyright Laws World trade Organization –TRIPS Agreement

–Article 10 provides adequate protection.

Databases Definition - collections of works and

collections of mere data (data bases), whether in machine readable or other form, provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection, co-ordination or arrangement of their contents.

No separate consideration in SL as compared to UK and US

No consideration of outdated DB

Databases Copyright subsists in a database if ‘its

contents constitute the author’s own intellectual creation’. Databases that exhibit authorship.

Require a lot of effort and a lot of money to prepare.

Examples might include databases of hotels, pop songs, or geographic data.

Some Simple Techniques to Protect Computer Programs Add a unique statement in code level or display

level. Statement which is not effect to the core functionality As a evidence if copied Better if it can encoded to remove readability Widely used in 3rd party components

Minify/ Uglify (Minification/Obfuscation ) whole code Widely used in JavaScript Even though its main goal to compress the source, can be

used to remove readability to prevent modifications.

What more are there ?...