Patent and Copyright

Patents

is a legal, exclusive right granted by the government to an inventor, with a 20 years contract before it expires. This right prevents others from copying, using or selling the invention.

Direct Infringement

Occurs when someone without authorization uses, sells, makes or imports a patented invention. It’s the most straightforward form of infrigement.

Indirect Infrigement

Involves activities that contribute or helps others to infringe a patent, like selling components specifically designed for patented product.

Literal Infringement

Happens when invention is exactly copied with no changes of the features and parts like making a clone of the original idea.

Doctrine of Equivalents

Not identical but if the accused item substantially peforms, and works as the same result as the patented invention is still counted as infringement.

Copyright

Is a sort of intellectual property that grants the owner the sole legal right to copy, distrubute, and perform a creative work. It protects the original representation in a form of creative work, not the idea itself. (automatically granted after creating it)

Literary Copyright

Protects original written works such as novels, scripts, biographies, theses, manuals, and even software code.

Dramatic Copyright

Covers works intended for live performance, such as stage plays, mime acts, scripted performances, and dance choreography.

Artistic Copyright

Protects visual creations such as paintings, photographs, sculptures, architechtural designs, sketchs, diagrams, cartoons, graphics, engravings, and blueprints.

Duration of Copyright

Author’s lifetime + 50 years after death. For audiovisual works is 50 years from publication. US and EU provides + 70 years.

Berne Convention (1886)

Cornerstone, sets minimum protection standards, automatic copyright (no formalities).

TRIPS Agreement (WTO)

enforces Berne standards, adds stronger enforcement rules on top of the previous treaty.

WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996)

covers digital environment, software, and online works.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act, US, 1998 (DMCA)

This law is the reason why when you use music you do not own, it gets muted or taken down on platforms like Facebook or Youtube.

Core features (DMCA)

If claimant doesn’t sue in US court in ~10-14 days, content can be reinstated.

Violations of copyright

Downloading content from internet without paying, copying artistic or literary works without licensing agreement and overall copying, modifying and sharing a copyrighted content.