What is intellectual property and how to protect it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It is worth considering in advance how to prove that this is your work.

What is Intellectual Property

This is the result of mental activity and everything that can be equated to it: texts, photos, inventions, and so on. The author is recognized as a person whose creative efforts led to the creation of a product. If there are several creators, they jointly own the results of intellectual activity. The right of authorship cannot be taken away, even if the person himself refuses: it is inalienable.

But there is also an exclusive right that allows you to distribute the result of intellectual activity in any legal way or prevent others from doing it. And it is already allowed to transfer it under the contract.

For example, a journalist writes material and transfers the exclusive right to the publication. He is still the author of the text. But the media itself decides what to do with the material: when to publish, how to reissue. A journalist cannot change his mind and prohibit it if he has signed a contract.

If someone wants to use an intellectual property object, he must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Intellectual rights do not depend on who owns the material medium on which they are presented. For example, if a person buys a book, he does not receive the right to dispose of its contents.

How intellectual property is protected depending on its type

There are several categories of rights that are protected by law in this area.

Copyright

These are the intellectual rights of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation Article 1255. Copyright to works of science, literature and art, programs for computers, databases. The creator, in addition to the right to authorship and exclusive rights, also owns the rights to the publication and the inviolability of the work. This means that no one can distort his creation without his knowledge, and it is he who decides whether it can be released into the light.

At the same time, fragments of works are allowed to be used for informational, scientific, educational or cultural purposes. For example, if a teacher reads a piece from a book by a modern author in class, it would not be an attack on his intellectual property.

Copyright is assigned by default; there is no need to formalize it additionally. But in controversial situations, the creator needs to be ready to prove that this is his work. Computer programs and databases are allowed to be registered on an optional basis. And if the work was created to order, the exclusive right belongs to the employer.

For notification of copyright, each copy of a work may include the following information:

• Latin C in a circle - ©.
• Name or title of the copyright holder.
• The year of the first publication of the work.

Exclusive copyright is valid for the lifetime of the creator and the next 70 years, when the heirs dispose of the work. It then becomes public domain and can be used freely.

Related to copyright

More often they are called simply contiguous. They protect the rights to:

• Performing outputs that can be reproduced and disseminated, including directors' productions. That is, if the performance of one theater is exactly like the production of another, it will be a violation.
• Phonograms.
• Radio and television broadcasts.
• Databases when it comes to protecting them from unauthorized use of content.
• Works of science, literature and art, published after their transfer to the public domain, if we are talking about the protection of the rights of their publishers.

Most of the parameters for adjacent rights are similar to copyright. Only instead of © the sign of protection of copyright adjacent to the copyright will be a Latin P in a circle - ℗. Allied to copyright is valid during the life of the performer, or the producer of the phonogram, or the director, but not less than 50 years.

Patent rights

We are talking about inventions, utility models and industrial designs. The exclusive right belongs to the one who registered his creation with Rospatent and received the corresponding document. By default, the author has this option. But he can transfer it under a contract, including a labor contract. That is, if the engineer signed a paper upon employment that his developments belong to the company, so it will be. But the right of authorship is inseparable from the creator.

The exclusive right is valid from the date of filing a patent application for 20 years for inventions, 10 years for utility models, 5 years for industrial designs. A patent for an industrial design is allowed to be repeatedly prolonged for 5 years, but not more than 25 years from the date of filing the application. Then the invention becomes public domain.

Rights to means of individualization

They relate to symbols that are used to distinguish goods, services and organizations. These rights protect trade names, trademarks and service marks, geographical indications, appellations of origin of goods, commercial designations. To protect the means of individualization, they must be registered with Rospatent.

Exceptions are brand name and trade name. The first is already indicated in the constituent documents, so there is no need to re-legalize it. The second is enough to start using on signs, goods, in advertising.

The exclusive right to a trademark, service mark and geographical indications, appellations of origin of goods is valid for 10 years from the date of filing an application for state registration and can subsequently be renewed at the request of the copyright holder an unlimited number of times. For the company name - as long as the legal entity exists. The right to a commercial name is lost if the copyright holder does not use it continuously for a year.

Trade secret rights

We are talking about know-how - information concerning the results of intellectual activity in the scientific and technical sphere and methods of work, if they are valuable because of their unknown to third parties. For example, if a company has come up with a unique technology for the production of very comfortable soles, this is quite secret information. But the secret of production is directly related to a trade secret, and it is better to read about it in a separate article by Lifehacker.

In addition, there are rights to selection achievements (a patent is issued, which is valid for 30–35 years) and on the topology of integrated circuits (subject to state registration and valid for 10 years).

What to do if your intellectual property rights are violated

You need to go to court. Before that, you can send a written claim to the offender and try to negotiate compensation yourself.

In court, you will need to confirm your right to the object. In the case of patents and state registration, it will be easy. But if you took a photo and it was stolen, you will need proof. Let's say you can provide sources with metadata.

You will also need to confirm the fact of using the result of your intellectual work. For example, if a resourceful individual entrepreneur prints a picture of your authorship on T-shirts, you can purchase the product and use it together with the receipt as proof.

For infringement of intellectual rights, compensation is provided from 10 thousand to 5 million rubles, or in two times the cost of counterfeit copies of a work, or in two times the cost of the right to use the object.