INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND PIRACY

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Intellectual property rights are legal rights granted to persons in order to protect their intellectual creations such as literary and artistic works, industrial designs, inventions, etc. Such rights encourage innovation and give a sense of legal security to the innovator for a fixed period of time in the form of patents, copyright, design rights, trademark, etc.

a. Copyright – is a form of intellectual property, applicable to certain form of creative work. Copyright infringement leads to monetary loss for the creator. However, copyright infringement is a regular occurrence, especially in software, music, films, books, etc.

b. Patents - are monopoly rights granted by the government to an inventor for a new an ingenious invention which has industrial applicability. Only the inventor has the right to make, sell, use, import or offer to sell the invention for a period of 20 years from the date of filing for the patent, provided the annual patent renewal fees are paid.

c. Trademark (or brand name) – is the distinct design, slogan, sign, etc. of an organization or product which distinguishes it from other organizations or products. It serves as an identity, guarantees consistency in quality, creates an image and serves as an advertisement.

d. Design Rights - are intellectual property rights which protect the designs of objects that are not purely utilitarian.


PIRACY

The original meaning of the word 'piracy' is 'the act of attacking and stealing from ships at sea'. However, in the business context, piracy, also known as 'plagiarism' means 'unauthorized use or reproduction of another person's work'. Today piracy has become a business that is taking over other business. The most common area of piracy are books, music, films and software.

Illegal commercial photocopying, digitization and reproducing large tracts from a book without giving the author credit amounts to book piracy. Downloading movies, music from torrents is a form of online piracy.

Piracy amounts to theft of intellectual property rights. Piracy affects royalty earnings, results in loss for investors and even generates black money which creates a dent in the tax revenue of the government.

Intellectual Property and New Media

'Intellectual Porperty' relates to the ownership of 'intangible' property such as ideas, various forms of literary and artistic expression, broadcasting and the mass media, folklore, and new media (any mode of expression which has commercial value)

The law encompasses four distinct types of intangible property:
1. Patents
2. Copyright
3. Trademarks or Tradenames
4. Others such as industrial designs, trade secrets and confidential information.

The above collectively are referred to as 'intellectual property'. Of these, Copyright directly applies to mass media.

'Copyright' is generally defined as an 'exclusive right granted to the owner of an original work (i.e. lyrics, movies, computer programs, paintings, designs logos) for a limited period of time'.

Copyright offers a legal protection granted to an artist or creative writer to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly.

Developments in new technologies such as cable and satellite TV as well as the internet have made the protection of 'intellectual property' more complicated.

An area of concern for authors, film makers, music composers, playwrights and other creative artists is the 'broadcasting of their work on a host of delivery platforms: radio, television, internet, mobile phones, etc. The gap between high priced media goods and low price pirated good has resulted in piracy.

Piracy is the illegal or unauthorised reproduction of copyrighted books, recordings, television programmes, softwares, movies etc.

With the dawn of globalization, India saw the entrance of piracy. Earlier piracy was confined to audio cassettes and books sold on the street. today it is in the form of:

1. Media windowing: Duplicating of content in the digital medium enables pirate to disrupt the chances of maximizing profits for distributors. While the cost of reproducing every duplicate decreases, the quality of the content remains constant.

2. Torrents: Bit Torrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data. These have been controversial since their inception. However, youngsters continue to download free games, software, movies etc via peer-to-peer file sharing / torrents.

Anti Piracy Enforcement: Media companies and anti-piracy groups have been lobbying for change in laws and stricter enforcement of laws. With cheaper technologies for circulation of media, this is a tough struggle.

Business Software Alliance (BSA) has been creating information on software piracy and assisting the police in conducting raids on pirates around India. In Bombay, the Social Services Wing, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) and major producers like Reliance Entertainment, and distributors such as United Television have driven anti-piracy efforts with the film industry.

Apart from enforcement efforts, anti-piracy lobbies have been instrumental in creating literature and annual statistical publication to demonstrate losses caused by piracy. Consultancy firms such as KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young have published piracy estimates.

Piracy is not a problem that can be eradicated overnight. New amendments but more importantly educating the masses will play an important role in making a difference in the future.