Prof Soonil DDV Rughooputh

&
Dr Sanjai K Parahoo
University of Mauritius
In te lle c tu a l P r o p e r ty
a n d C o p y r ig h t Is s u e s :
C onsiderations relating to
e-Learning materials

WGDEOL Workshop
03 December 2008
 C o ntents
 IP R : C o n c e p t a n d R a tio n a le ;
 M a jo r ty p e s o f IP R p e r ta in in g
to L e a r n in g m a te r ia ls ;
 C o p y r ig h t a n d R e la te d R ig h ts ;
 P a te n ts ;
 T ra d e m a rk s ;
 In d u s tr ia l D e s ig n s ; a n d
 IP R a n d th e In te r n e t.
IPR :
C oncept and
R a tio n a le
What is intellectual property?

It r e fe r s to c r e a tio n s o f th e
m in d : In v e n tio n s , lite r a r y a n d
a r tis tic w o r k s , s y m b o ls , n a m e s
a n d im a g e s u s e d in c o m m e r c e .

What are intellectual

property rights?
T h e y a r e lik e a n y o th e r
p r o p e r ty r ig h ts , a n d th e y a llo w
th e c r e a to r , o r o w n e r to b e n e fit
fr o m h is /h e r w o r k o r
in v e s tm e n t.
 Why Promote and
Protect IPRs?
 T o provide inc entive
tow a rds va rious c rea tive
endea vors of the m ind by
offering protec tions ;

 T o g ive s uc h c rea tors

offic ia l rec og nition;

 T o c rea te repos itories of

vita l inform a tion; a nd

 T o fa c ilita te the g row th of

both dom es tic indus try or
c ulture, a nd interna tiona l
tra de, throug h the trea ties
offering m ulti-la tera l
protec tion.
How the IP System works?

G ra nting a n I P R ig ht to a
pers o n in effec t a llo w s tha t
pers o n to c o ntro l the
a c tivities o f o thers w ith
reg a rds to tha t rig ht.
T he rig hts o w ner m a y prevent
o thers fro m c o pying o r
m a nufa c turing the pro duc t.
I t m a y a ls o prevent a third
pa rty tha t ha s rea c hed the
s a m e idea independently
fo rm ex plo iting tha t idea .
S o m e M a jo r types o f I P R
perta ining to e-L ea rning
m a teria ls

 Copyright and
Related Rights
 Patents
 Trademarks
 Industrial Designs
 Copyright

T he c opyrig ht s ys tem
protec ts the orig ina l w ork of
a n a uthor tha t is fix ed in a
ta ng ible form of ex pres s ion.

T he a im of c opyrig ht is to
prom ote s c ienc e, c ulture a nd
the a rts , by rew a rding the
c rea tors of s uc h w ork s by
g ra nting them s o m e rig hts .

A t the s a m e tim e a ba la nc e is
a c hieved betw een a uthors ’
rig hts , thos e of entrepreneurs
a nd the g enera l public .
 What is Protected
by Copyright?

Copyright protects every original

work of authorship, irrespective of
its artistic value or merit.

These shall include every production in the

literary, scientific and artistic domain,
whatever may be the mode or form of its
expression, such as books, pamphlets and
other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons
and other works of the same nature, (…)
musical compositions with or without words;
cinematographic works (…) works of
drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture,
(…) photographic works, (…) works of
applied art (…) , Translations, adaptations,
arrangements of music and other alterations
of a literary or artistic work (…),
encyclopaedias and anthologies (…).
 Principle Of Automatic
Protection

C o pyrig ht do es no t need
a ny fo rm a lity o f
reg is tra tio n o f ....
T he c o pyrig ht s ys tem
pro tec ts a n o rig ina l w o rk
o f a n a utho r o nc e it is
fix ed in a ta ng ible fo rm o f
ex pres s io n.
I t is c o nc erned w ith the
public a tio n a nd
c o m m unic a tio n o f the
c rea tive o utput o f a utho rs .
 Economic Rights of
Copyright Owners

E c o n o m ic r ig h ts c a n b e d iv id e d
in to fo u r m a in c a te g o r ie s :
 R ig ht of reproduc tion
 R ig hts of tra ns la tion a nd
a da pta tion
 R ig hts of public
perform a nc e, broa dc a s ting
a nd c om m unic a tion to the
public
 R es a le rig ht (D roit de S uite)
 Limitations
to the Rights
T he B erne C o nventio n
c o nta ins three ba s ic
types o f lim ita tio ns

• the ex c lus io n o f
c erta in c a teg o ries o f
w o rk s
• the ex c lus io n o f
pa rtic ula r a c ts o f
ex plo ita tio n
• no n vo lunta ry
lic ens es
 Moral Rights

T h e a im o f m o r a l r ig h ts is
to p r o te c t c e r ta in p e r s o n a l
in te r e s ts o f a u th o r s in th e ir
w o rk s .

T h e r e a r e tw o ty p e s o f
m o r a l r ig h ts :
the rig ht of paternity
and
the rig ht of integ rity.
 Moral Rights /…

The right of paternity is the

author’s right to be identified as
such in relation to his/her work.

The right of integrity is the

author’s right to object to any
distortion, mutilation or other
modification of, or other derogatory
action in relation to his/her work,
which would be prejudicial to
his/her honor or reputation.
Related
Rights
 Related Rights
Related rights (to Copyright) are
refer to rights that resemble
copyright and are closely associated
with it.

Designed to protect the interests of

certain persons and legal entities
who contribute to make these works
available to the public.
The first Related rights is therefore
the Rights of those who perform the
works, namely the performers,
singers, actors, dancers, musicians,
etc.
Related Rights –Phonogram
Producers/…
Next…
The song may be recorded
The Phonogram producer also
needs to have his rights
protected.
More of a commercial type of
protection so that they recoup
their investment.
 Related Rights-
Broadcasters/…

The third group that require

protection are broadcasters.
Their rights derive from
their creative inputs, namely
the making of broadcasts.
They invest in broadcasting
and they also need to recoup
their investments.
 Patents
A patent is an exclusive right
granted by the Patent Office to
an inventor to prevent others
from making, using, selling,
distributing, or importing
his/her new product or using
his/her new process.

In exchange, the Inventor must

disclose the invention in a
Patent specification so that
anyone trained in the art may
reproduce the invention.
 Patents /…
This right is granted for a
limited period of time, usually
7 years renewable up to a
maximum of 20 years.

A Patent provides a reward for

the creation of an invention,
and for its development to
marketability.

…. development of new
technology … useful to the
public.
 What Rights Does
A Patent Confer?

A Patent Holder may exclude

others in the territory from:
 Making
 Using
 Selling
 Importing
the Invention.
When the Patent expires, the
technology becomes public
property and the public is free to
use it.
 Trademarks

Trademarks are distinctive

marks such as words/signs
including personal names,
letters, numerals, figurative
elements (logos),
Z visually
perceptible 2D or 3D shapes or
their combinations capable of
distinguishing the goods and
services in connection with
which it is used in the course of
trade.
 Trademarks

A registered trademark provides

protection to the owner of the
mark by ensuring the exclusive
rights to use it to identify goods
or services or to authorize others
to use it.
Consumers associate trademarks
with certain products, and the
prestige and reputation
associated with the trademark
become important.
Industrial Designs
An industrial design is the
ornamental or aesthetic
aspect of an article.
An industrial design does not
protect any technical features
of the article to which it is
applied.
Industrial designs make an
article attractive and
appealing. Hence they add to
the commercial value of the
article and increase its
marketability.
 Protection of
Industrial Designs /..

Registration of the ID
provides the right to
exclude others from using
the design for making,
importing for business,
selling, offering for sale,
any article in context of
which the design is
registered.
IPR and the
Internet
 IPR and The Internet:
Introduction
Digital technologies and the
internet have far-reaching
impact on intellectual
property and the
international IP system.
.. perfect copies … in
substantial volumes…
dissemination to many
individuals from a single
point…. at exponential speed.
 WIPO
Internet Treaties
In 1996, two new treaties were
concluded at the WIPO:
 WIPO Copyright Treaty
 WIPO Performances and
Phonograms Treaty
….a milestone in modernizing the
international system of copyright
and related rights, to take into
account developments brought
about by the Digital age
Computer Programs
and Databases
~ are now expressly
protected as literary
and artistic works.
(Articles 4 and 5
WCT).

For databases, it is
clarified that they are
only protected if they
are original by reason
of the selection of
arrangement of their
contents.
 Right Of Rental

According to Article 7 of the

WIPO Copyright Treaty
authors of computer programs,
cinematographic works and
works embodied in
phonograms have then
exclusive right of authorizing
the commercial rental to the
public of the originals or copies
of their works.
Domain Name

A domain name is a human

friendly form of Internet
address that is both easy to
identify and to remember

… have acquired the role of

business identifiers and, in
certain cases, even trademarks
themselves (e.g. Amazon.com)

By registering their names as

domain names, businesses
attract customers to their web-
sites
 Cybersquatting
 It involves the pre-emptive,
bad faith registration of
trademarks as domain
names by third parties who
do not possess rights in
such names.
 Cybersquatters exploit the
first-come first-served
nature of the domain name
nature of the domain name
registration system.
References
WIPO Materials
Ganguli (2001)
Alikhan and Mashelkar (2004)
Thank you

by
Professor Soonil Rughooputh
and
Dr Sanjai Parahoo