Industrial Property and Copyright

Intellectual property is usually divided into two branches, namely industrial property, which protects inventions, and copyright, which protects literary and artistic works. Industrial property takes a range of forms. These include patents to protect inventions, and industrial designs, which are aesthetic creations determining the appearance of industrial products. Industrial property also covers trademarks, service marks, layout-designs of integrated circuits, commercial names and designations, as well as geographical indications, and protection against unfair competition. Copyright relates to artistic creations, such as books, music, paintings and sculptures, films and technology-based works such as computer programs and electronic databases. In most European languages other than English, copyright is known as author's rights. The expression copyright refers to the main act which, in respect of literary and artistic creations, may be made only by the author or with his authorization. That act is the making of copies of the work. The expression "author's rights" refers to the creator of the artistic work, its author. It thus underlines the fact, recognized in most laws, that the author has certain specific rights in his creation which only he can exercise (such as the right to prevent a distorted reproduction). Other rights (such as the right to make copies) can be exercised by other persons, for example, a publisher who has obtained a license from the author. While other types of intellectual property also exist, it is helpful for present purposes to explore the distinction between industrial property and copyright in terms of the basic difference between inventions and literary and artistic works. Inventions may be defined in a non-legal sense as new solutions to technical problems. These new solutions are ideas, and are protected as such; protection of inventions under patent law does not require that the invention be represented in a physical embodiment. The protection accorded to inventors is, therefore, protection against any use of the invention without the authorization of the owner. Even a person who later makes the same invention independently, without copying or even being aware of the first inventor's work, must obtain authorization before he can exploit it. Unlike protection of inventions, copyright law protects only the form of expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. The creativity protected by copyright law is creativity in the choice and arrangement of words, musical notes, colors and shapes. So copyright law protects the owner of property rights against those who copy or otherwise take and use the form in which the original work was expressed by the author. From this basic difference between inventions and literary and artistic works, it follows that the legal protection provided to each also differs. Since protection for inventions gives a monopoly right to exploit an idea, such protection is short in duration - usually about 20 years. The fact that the invention is protected must also be made known to the public. There must be an official notification that a specific, fully described invention is the property of a specific owner for a fixed number of years; in other words, the protected invention must be disclosed publicly in an official register. Since the legal protection of literary and artistic works under copyright, by contrast, prevents only unauthorized use of the expressions of ideas, the duration of protection can be much longer than in the case of the protection of ideas themselves, without damage to the public interest. Also, the law can be - and in most countries is - simply declaratory, the law may state that the author of an original work has the right to prevent other persons from copying or otherwise using his work. So a created work is considered protected as soon as it exists, and a public register of copyright protected works is not necessary.

 

Notes

industrial property –промышленная собственность

private property –частная собственность

branch – отрасль, филиал, сектор

designation -назначение, определение, знак, имя, название

service mark– знак обслуживания (отличается от товарного знака тем, что относится к области обслуживания, а не к продаваемым товарам)

commercial name– торговое название

database – фонд данных, база данных

to refer– иметь отношение, объяснять, направлять

in respect –в отношении, с учетом

to underline –подчеркивать, придавать особое значение

to exercise– осуществлять, выполнять

infringement – нарушение

to protect–защищать

copyright –авторское право

invention– изобретение, создание, выдумка

owner –собственник, владелец

to obtain – получать, приобретать

to exploit – применять, эксплуатировать, использовать в своих интересах

notification– извещение, сообщение

unauthorized– незаконный, не имеющий юридического основания

to disclose –раскрывать, открывать, сообщать

to consider – рассматривать, обсуждать, находить

2. Read the text again to answer the following questions:

1. Is intellectual property considered to be a part of personal property?

2. How can IP be defined?

3. How can you explain that the law of protection can be declaratory?

4. What are negative and positive points in the legal protection?

5. Is the protection for inventions long in duration? What does it give?

6. What are similarities and differences between the two branches of Intellectual Property?

7. What does the legal protection of literary and artistic works under copyright prevent?

 

3. Translate the following words and word combinations from English into Russian:

branches, industrial property, a range of forms, aesthetic creations, layout-designs, integrated circuits, legal protection, copyright, damage, public interest, specific, to exist, industrial property, protection, branch, in respect, damage, invention, copyright, database, commercial name, to disclose, similarity, to prevent, notification, unauthorized.

 

4. Find the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:

авторские права, получать, частная собственность, существовать, различие, неюридический, воплощение, расположение, изобретение, использовать в своих интересах, промышленная собственность, ущерб, подчеркивать, база данных, существовать, раскрывать, предотвращать.