Intellectual Property Law and Internet

Intellectual Property Law and Internet
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law.

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. The Intellectual property law means the legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary, and artistic fields. Countries have laws to protect intellectual property for two main reasons:
(i) to give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creations and the rights of the public in access to those creations.

(ii) to promote, as a deliberate act of Government policy, creativity and the dissemination and application of its results and to encourage fair trading which would contribute to economic and social development. Intellectual property laws give rights to the producers of the goods or services for a certain period and after that they have to pay some amount for the renewal of the rights, in case if the amount is not paid then the rights will automatically be transferred to the Government of India.


Intellectual Property is divided into two categories:
(i) Industrial property consists of rights relating to inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and appellation of origin

(ii) Copyright

An industrial design is the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article; it may consist of three-dimensional features such as shape or surface, or of two-dimensional features such as patterns, lines or colour.

The design serves as a tool for product differentiation and lures customers by enhanced visual appeal. It becomes a kind of Intellectual property to be protected. Industrial designs are applied to a wide variety of products of industry or handicraft: watches, jewellery, fashion and other luxury items, industrial and medical implements, houseware, furniture, electrical appliances, vehicles and architectural structures, textile designs, toys etc while, Copyright protects rights related to creation of human mind in the fields of literature, music, art and audio-visual works. The owner of copyright has rights not only in the original work, but also in creative work that is derived from the original work, e.g. its translation or adaptation or the enactment or production of a film based on the original work. Such rights relating to a copyright are called related rights. There are neighbouring rights on copyright, which protect performances of performing artists, phonograms and broadcasts. Related rights and neighbouring rights are terms used interchangeably

The TRIPS Agreement of the WTO recognizes seven types of intellectual property rights (IPRs):
i. Copyright and Related Rights;
ii. Trademarks, Trade names and Service marks;
iii. Geographical Indications;
iv. Industrial Designs;
v. Patents;
vi. Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits; and
vii. Undisclosed Information

Copyright And Internet
We all know of the fact that the piracy in the cyber world is increasing day by day and the cases related to plagiarism of intellectual property rights are in line towards the court. Technology on internet is growing so fast that it helps in transmission and use of all the protected materials in digital form over interactive networks and allows the conversion of such materials into binary form, which can be transmitted across the internet, and then re-distributed, copied and stored in perfect form and this process is called digitalization. While the transmission of text, sound, images and computer programs over the internet is already a common place, now it is also becoming true for transmission of audiovisual works such as feature films, as the technical constraints of narrow bandwidth begin to disappear. If we can see our music industry, which has repeatedly raising the issues relating to the internet piracy and which is also plagued by large scale piracy as several websites host pirate music. The law enforcement on this particular issue has been quite lax. It was pointed out that the existing and proposed amendments will not be able to curb piracy unless the copyright legislation is brought in tune with the Information Technology Act, 2000 which provides for power to intercept, monitor or decrypt information through any computer source on certain grounds mentioned therein. So it is very necessary to bring the copyright law in tune with the Information Technology Act, 2000 so far as internet piracy is concerned and a designated authority for managing copyrights issues and piracy is to be created with sufficient policing powers.

WIPO Internet Treaties
There are two treaties which help the rightholders of the copyright which are concluded in 1996 at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. (i) WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) which entered into force on March 6, 2002 and deals with protection for authors of literary and artistic works, such as writings and computer programs; original databases; musical works; audiovisual works; works of fine art and photographs and (ii) WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) which entered into force on May 20, 2002 and protects certain "related rights" that is rights related to copyright in the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty and these rights are rights of performers and producers of phonograms.

The main purpose of these two treaties is to update and supplement the major existing WIPO treaties on copyright and related rights, primarily in order to respond to developments in technology and in the marketplace. Since the Berne and Rome Conventions were adopted or lastly revised more than a quarter century ago and now new types of works, new markets, and new methods of use and dissemination have evolved. Among other things, both the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) address the challenges posed by today's digital technologies, in particular the dissemination of protected material over digital networks such as the Internet. For this reason, they have sometimes been referred to as the "Internet treaties."

Both treaties require countries to provide a framework of basic rights, allowing creators to control and/or be compensated for the various ways in which their creations are used and enjoyed by others. Most importantly, the treaties ensure that the owners of those rights will continue to be adequately and effectively protected when their works are disseminated through new technologies and communications systems such as the Internet. The treaties thus clarify that existing rights continue to apply in the digital environment. They also create new online rights. To maintain a fair balance of interests between the owners of rights and the general public, the treaties further clarify that countries have reasonable flexibility in establishing exceptions or limitations to rights in the digital environment. Countries may, in appropriate circumstances, grant exceptions for uses deemed to be in the public interest, such as for non-profit educational and research purposes.

The treaties also require countries to provide not only the rights themselves, but also two types of technological adjuncts to the rights. These are intended to ensure that right holders can effectively use technology to protect their rights and to license their works online. The first, known as the "anti-circumvention" provision which tackles the problem of "hacking" and requires countries to provide adequate legal protection and effective remedies against the circumvention of technological measures (such as encryption) used by right holders to protect their rights and the second type of technological adjuncts safeguards the reliability and integrity of the online marketplace by requiring countries to prohibit the deliberate alteration or deletion of electronic "rights management information" means information which accompanies any protected material, and which identifies the work, its creators, performer, or owner, and the terms and conditions for its use.

As per the Copyright Amendment Bill (2010) which is not yet introduced in the Rajya Sabha, it is clearly mentioned as per Section 38 clause 2:- The Act is now proposed to be amended with the object of making certain changes for clarity, to remove operational difficulties and also to address certain newer issues that have emerged in the context of digital technologies and the Internet. The two World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Internet Treaties, namely, WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), 1996 and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996 have set the international standards in these spheres. The WCT and the WPPT were negotiated in 1996 to address the challenges posed to the protection of Copyrights and Related Rights by digital technology, particularly with regard to the dissemination of protected material over digital networks such as the Internet. The member countries of the WIPO agreed on the utility of having the Internet treaties in the changed global technical scenario and adopted them by consensus. In order to extend protection of copyright material in India over digital networks such as internet and other computer networks in respect of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings works of performers, it is proposed amend the Act to harmonise with the provisions of the two WIPO Internet Treaties, to the extent considered necessary and desirable.

The WCT deals with the protection for the authors of literary and artistic works such as writings, computer programmes; original databases; musical works; audiovisual works; works of fine art and photographs. The WPPT protects certain "related rights" which are the rights of the performers and producers of phonograms. However, India has not yet signed the abovementioned two treaties. Moreover, the main object to make amendments to the Act is that it is considered that in the knowledge society in which we live today, it is imperative to encourage creativity for promotion of culture of enterprise and innovation so that creative people realise their potential and it is necessary to keep pace with the challenges for a fast growing knowledge and modern society.

Remedies For The Copyright Holder
If we can see towards the development then internet access and usage still remains extremely low in developing countries as compared to developed countries; copyright, however, is not the main barrier to access. Wider usage will not occur until improvements are made to basic communications infrastructure. In the longer term, the internet could potentially bring great benefits to developing countries, such as the peer-to-peer creation, sharing of knowledge and information among all peoples of the world. What needs to be emphasised is that providing access in developing countries to copyright-protected online materials would result in neither lost revenues nor extra costs for rights holders in developed countries; further, because information is a non-rivalrous consumption good, there would be no diminished access by developed countries.

Before the internet revolution arrives in undeveloped and developing countries, there are worrying examples of information blockages being established, such as the proliferation of user-pay passwords (or tollgates) and laws outlawing anti-encryption technologies. Moreover, the internet also poses certain threats to undeveloped countries which could further stratify the world into information-haves and information-have-nots; these dangers need to be appreciated. There are, however, a number of positive and free-access online initiatives that do exist and should be encouraged.

It is recommended that all Internet-based data shall be normally available to the public (e.g. through libraries) should remain open and free for fair dealing and educational purposes (e.g. the making of non-profit educational course packs for students). The terms and conditions of digital licensing schemes should be subject to adjudication before national copyright tribunals. Governments in developed countries should provide financial assistance to groups that have created best practice models of free online access. Publications that are derived from government funded research should be freely available online and governments in developed countries, as well as those in undeveloped countries, should not enact similar legislation. Then it may come in seen to the authorities that the rights of the rightholders are protected and the rules and the regulations which has been framed earlier is coming into use.

Here Plagiarism is an intellectual dishonesty committed by using a published work of a creator without acknowledging the creator or source of the creation. Copying someone else’s ideas, opinions, language, and pretending it as its own is termed as plagiarism.

Written By: Rahul Aggarwal Student at Government Law College, Mumbai IV Year V Year Course

End-Notes
# See http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/treaties/en/ip/berne/pdf/trtdocs_wo001.pdf
# See http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/treaties/en/ip/rome/pdf/trtdocs_wo024.pdf
# See http://copyright.gov.in/Documents/CopyrightAmendmentBill2010.pdf

Books referred:-
# Information Technology Act,2008(Professionals)
# Indian Copyright Act, 1957(Professionals)
# World Intellectual Property Organisation Treaties