Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Law

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the introduction to intellectual property, international copyright treaties, protection requirements, infringement tests, and digital rights management based on lecture notes.

Intellectual Property

Creations of the mind protected by law, such as inventions, creative works, and distinctive signs.

Non-rivalrous

A characteristic of intellectual property where one person's use of the property does not diminish another person's use of it.

Patents

Protection for new technological inventions, typically lasting $20$ years, requiring novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability.

Trade Marks

Distinctive signs used in commerce that protect origin rather than ideas, with an indefinite duration subject to renewal and use.

Geographical Indications

Place names that guarantee the quality or origin of a product, such as Champagne or Limoges.

Industrial Design

The visual appearance of a product that is new and has individual character, protecting aesthetic rather than functional elements.

Copyright

Legal protection for literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works plus software; it is automatic and generally lasts for the life of the author plus $70$ years.

Sui generis rights

Specific categories of IP rights for databases, semiconductor chips, and plant varieties.

Copyleft

A legal device built on copyright that uses exclusive rights to guarantee freedom and prevent the privatisation of the commons, notably associated with Richard Stallman and the GNU General Public Licence.

Creative Commons (CC)

A system of six standard licence types requiring attribution (BY), built on copyright to allow various levels of sharing and use.

Berne Convention (1886/1979)

A foundational international treaty with $181$ states providing automatic protection (no formality) and minimum moral rights.

TRIPs Agreement (1994, WTO)

An international agreement that integrates copyright into international trade law and expressly excludes moral rights obligations.

Paternity Right

The moral right of an author to be named as the creator of a work, recognized under Berne Art $6bis$.

Integrity Right

The moral right of an author to object to deforming modifications of their work that are prejudicial to their honour or reputation.

Locke's labour theory

The 'sweat of the brow' theory often associated with common law copyright, viewing rights as property-like and fully transferable.

Idea/Expression Dichotomy

The core rule that copyright protection extends to the expression of an idea, but not to the idea itself, procedures, or mathematical concepts as such.

Originality (EU Standard)

Determined in cases like Infopaq and Painer as the 'author's intellectual creation' involving 'free and creative choices' that reflect the author's personality.

Employee works

Works where copyright vests in the employer if created in the course of employment and within the employee's reasonably expected duties.

Joint authorship

A situation where contributions to a work are inseparable and all authors share the copyright equally.

Substantial Part

The qualitative test for infringement where even a small fragment may infringe if it is central or important to the original work.

Sampling

The reproduction of a fragment of a sound recording, which involves both the musical work and the sound recording rights.

Causal Link

The requirement that a claimant prove the defendant had access to the work to establish copying, as copyright does not protect against independent creation.

Transformative Use

A use that adds new meaning, insight, or expression to an original work; a key factor in US fair use analysis (Campbell test).

Contributory liability

A theory of secondary liability in the US requiring knowledge of infringement and a material contribution to it.

Inducement doctrine

A theory established in Grokster where distributing a device with the object of promoting its use for infringement makes the distributor liable.

Exhaustion / First-Sale Doctrine

The principle that once a rights holder sells an authorised copy, their distribution right is exhausted and the buyer may resell it.

Three-Step Test

International criteria for exceptions: 1. Certain special cases; 2. No conflict with normal exploitation; 3. No unreasonable prejudice to legitimate interests.

Fair Use (US)

An open-ended, four-factor test in the US ($17$ USC §$107$) to determine if a use is permitted without authorisation.

Deckmyn v Vandersteen Standard

The EU standard for parody requiring the work to: a) evoke an existing work, b) be noticeably different, and c) constitute an expression of humour or mockery.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

A dual system consisting of Technological Protection Measures (the technical lock) and the law protecting those measures.

Technological Protection Measure (TPM)

The technical component of DRM used to control access or prevent copying of digital content.

Content ID

YouTube's automated audio/visual fingerprinting system used to scan uploads against a database of rights holder content.

Anti-circumvention Law

Laws, such as US DMCA s $1201$ or EU InfoSoc Art $6$, that prohibit bypassing TPMs or trafficking in circumvention devices.