The rapidly developing Internet is increasingly becoming the cause of disputes over intellectual property rights and, as a consequence, litigation both domestic and international.
In order to avoid such situations, one should clearly understand what intellectual property objects are and what their types are. To answer these questions, you must turn to the legal doctrine of the industry.
Objects of intellectual property - the essence and types .
Traditionally, legal scholars consider the second half of the 20th century to be the beginning of the formation of this branch of law, despite the fact that the first international acts were adopted as early as 1883 - 1886 (we are talking about the Paris Convention of 1883 and the Berne Convention of 1886). Having studied the totality of international treaties and part 4 of the GKRF, we can deduce:
Intellectual property is the result of a person’s mental activity , possessing ideality, incorporeality and a specific form of enforcing rights.
The sign of ideality is based on the fact that the objects in question carry the only true solution to the problem in specific conditions of a moral, industrial or other nature. From this it follows: objects of intellectual property do not appear in materialized (bodily) form (the second characteristic feature), but their expression may well be material in nature. The last sign - a specific form of fixing rights - is determined by the type of objects that are traditionally divided into two categories: industrial property or copyright.
Objects of copyright .
It is these objects that have become the most frequent items of abuse on the Internet. This group includes:
• all literary works (including excerpts from them or names / titles of heroes and localities, as well as translations);
• scientific work (which includes, among others, abstracts, dissertations, as well as computer programs);
• choreographic, musical and audiovisual works
• advertising slogans and aphorisms;
• painting, sculpture and architecture - this group can also include photography.
It is worth noting that for copyright objects there is no need for special registration. It arises in the process of creating a work. However, for greater protection, it is recommended that such objects be recorded in specialized copyright protection bodies.
This category is worth making one, but a weighty remark. Any object from the above ceases to be copyright if it was created as a result of professional activity. For example, the image was made on the instructions of the publisher.
The rights of the authors of the so-called “Objects of related rights” - performances by artists and conductors, databases, phonograms, and information and developmental broadcasts.
Industrial property .
The emergence of this category of objects and, accordingly, the sub-branch of law became necessary at the end of the 19th century due to the rapid development of industry and the emergence of a large number of inventions. The following categories exist:
1. industrial designs, invention and utility models - these types are subject to patent law;
2. objects of individualization of commercial entities - name of organization, service mark, logo, trademark ;
3. non-traditional objects of intellectual property - trade secrets, topology of integrated circuits and selection achievements.
This category of objects has a distinctive feature - for the emergence of rights to protection requires their state registration. It is worth noting that, in contrast to the objects of authors' rights, for which registration is not necessary, and protection is valid in all countries, industrial property objects must be registered in each state where their distribution is planned.
A special position in this category is occupied by non-traditional objects of intellectual property. They are characterized by signs of copyright objects - these are products of scientific activity. But these objects are aimed at making a profit, and, therefore, should be attributed to industrial property law. The jurists decided that the last attribute is decisive, and therefore the objects of intellectual property under consideration are part of the second category, and they are subordinate to its legal regime.
The diversity of the presented objects only emphasizes the need to establish the correct regime for protecting the results of mental activity, especially in conditions of rapidly developing means of disseminating information.