Intellectual Property
Markéta Vlasáková
Masarykova univerzita
Centrum pro transfer technologií
(Technology transfer office of Masaryk University)
The aim of today's lecture:
to get aware of IP and its rights
(IPR)
What is intellectual?
intellectual /ˌɪntəˈlɛktʃʊəl/ = relating to the intellect
synonyms: mental, cerebral, cognitive
What is property?
property = one or more components of a person's
estate; belonging to or being owned by a person or
jointly a group of people or a legal entity (corporation
or even a society)
Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of
property has the right to consume, alter, share, sell,
redefine, rent, mortgage, pawn, exchange, transfer,
give away or destroy it, or to exclude others from doing
these things.
Do we protect our property?
How?
Why?
Is IP actually property?
When talking about property we usually think of
something real, something we can touch
Yet there is property with no physical substance
whose value stems not from its physical attributes, but
from what it represents.
Tangible property
• Buildings
• Machinery
• Equipment
• Vehicles
• Land
• Cash
• …
Intangible property
• Copyrights
• Patents
• Trademarks
• Know how
• Licences
• Brands
• …
We can touch We can not touch
Do you realize that each human tangible creation has
its intangible counterpart?
so...
Can we protect our intangible property?
How?
Why?
Why to protect IP?
Your work is an asset
If you have an original idea or piece of creative work,
no matter what others may say, it’s still a potential
asset and should be treated as such.
Why to protect IP?
Over last few decades,
intangible assets became
key drive of economy
How to protect IP?
What is copyright?
Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to
describe the rights that creators have over their literary
and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range
from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to
computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps,
and technical drawings.
Copyright protection extends only to expressions, and
not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or
mathematical concepts as such.
In the majority of countries copyright protection is
obtained automatically without the need for
registration or other formalities.
Most countries nonetheless have a system in place to allow for the
voluntary registration of works. Such voluntary registration systems
can help solve disputes over ownership or creation, as well as facilitate
financial transactions, sales, and the assignment and/or transfer of
rights.
There are two types of rights under copyright:
Economic rights - allow the owner to derive financial
reward from the use of his works by others _ these are
transferable, last up to 70 years after the authors death
Moral rights - protect the non-economic interests of
the author (eg. include the right to claim authorship of
a work and the right to oppose changes to a work that
could harm the creator's reputation, or time and place
of publication) _ these are not transferable, die with the author
The owner has the right to authorize or prevent
certain uses in relation to a work or to receive
remuneration for the use of his work, such as:
its reproduction in various forms, such as printed
publication or sound recording; its public performance,
such as in a play or musical work; its recording in the
form of compact discs or DVDs; its broadcasting, by
radio, cable or satellite; its translation into other
languages; and its adaptation, such as a novel into a
film screenplay.
Inversely, if you’re looking for material to use or reuse,
you should not do any of these things without either
asking permission or confirming that the work is in the
public domain, which means that the copyright has
expired and all of the above rights have been forfeited.
Simply put, if the work isn’t in the public domain and
you don’t have permission to use a piece, you put
yourself in risk of legal action, regardless of your
intentions.
Who holds the rights?
Schoolwork (paintings, essays, thesis)
• work that is done by school students
• both economic and moral rights belong to student!
Employee work
• work done by an employee
• property of an employer
• Economic rights belong to an employer but moral
rights say with an employee
publications and graduate thesis
Once you publish your data they are public, and
anybody can use them for non-commercial activities
(eg. research).
You have a right to be stated as an author
There is no control over the published ideas
and/or principles
Have you ever heard about a thesis which was copied
(stolen in fact) and published word by word as an
article but with different author?
Please publish wisely.
Sometimes publishing is not the best strategy.
What is industrial property?
Industrial property describes physical matter that is the
product of an idea or concept for commertial purposes.
Patents Geographical indicationes
Industrial design
KnowledgeTrade secrets
Plant varieties
Trademarks
Brand
Goodwill
History teaches us that protection of intellectual
property occurs nuturally
The system of IPR evolved over centuries and was
internationally formalized in the 19th century
An example of a potters mark on a
piece of Terra Sigillata fine or red
Ancient Roman pottery. There are
300,000 potters marks identified in
Terra Sigillata
On the lamp's base is what is called a
"maker's mark", which was a symbol
or name indicating the specific
workshop that created the lamp. This
can be useful for archaeologists,
because it can sometimes tell us
where and when the lamp was made.
This particular potter's mark, three
crossed palm branches bound
together, is found on lamps made in
Egypt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
http://www.sciencebuzz.org
Dr. David E. Graves
• 1873
Weltausstellung,
Vienna
• 1883 Paris
Convention for the
Protection of
Industrial Property
• 1851 The Great Exhibition, London
The Paris Convention was one of the first intellectual property
treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial
property. The Convention is currently still in force.
Registered IP Non-registered IP
Geographical indicationes
TrademarksPatents
Plant varieties
Industrial design
Goodwill
Trade secrets
Brand
Knowledge
vs.
Trade secret =formula, practice, process, design,
instrument, pattern, commercial method, or
compilation of information not generally known by
others by which a business can obtain an economic
advantage over competitors or customers.
Goodwill - an intangible, salable asset arising from the
reputation of a business and its relations with its
customers, distinct from the value of its stock and
other tangible assets.
Brand - a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature
that distinguishes an organization or product from its
rivals in the eyes of the customer.
Non-registered IP
A trademark is a
recognizable sign,
design, or expression
which distinguishes
products or services
of a particular source
from those of others
An industrial design
protects the shape,
configuration,
pattern or
ornamentation of a
product - that is,
what gives a product
its unique
appearance.
A geographical indication is a
sign used on products that
have a specific geographical
origin and possess qualities or
a reputation that are due to
that origin.
Geographical indications
are intended to
designate product
quality, highlight brand
identity, and preserve
cultural traditions.
A patent for an invention
is granted by government
to the inventor, giving the
inventor the right to stop
others, for a limited
period, from making,
using or selling the
invention without their
permission, in exchange
for detailed public
disclosure of an
invention.
Invention vs. Discovery
Only inventions can be protected by patents – not discoveries!
• patents are intended to
facilitate and encourage
disclosure of innovations
into the public domain for
the common good.
• Monopoly for max. 20 years
(maintenance fees)
• Novel
• Non-obvious
• Useful
Think again – are you going to publish something
novel? non-obvious? useful?
Patent First, Publish Later!
Published information is not patentable anymore.
Even if patenting is not really for you …
…the patents shall be!
Patent databases offer free access to over 100 million
patent documents from around the world.
www.epo.org, www.wipo.int, www.uspto.gov, www.upv.cz
Inadequate literature review makes an author's
research redundant – up to 25 % cases!
Thanks for your time!
… any questions?
Markéta Vlasáková
CTT MU
www.ctt.muni.cz
vlasakova@ctt.muni.cz