Intellectual property and social media

Submitted by
MAGOMED ZUBAIROV 0107205081

Submitted to
Dr. Su, Yi-Chen
National Chung Hsing University
Taichung, Taiwan.
Abstract
Table of contents
Introduction
why do countries such as the United States, Japan, and The Netherlands protect inventions; literary
and artistic works; and symbols, images, names, and designs used in commerce: the information and
original expressions of creative individuals known as intellectual property (IP)? They do so because
they know safeguarding these property rights fosters economic growth, provides incentives for
technological innovation, and attracts investment that will create new jobs and opportunities for all
their citizens. The World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects Report for 2002 confirmed the
growing importance of intellectual property for today’s globalized economies, finding that “across
the range of income levels, intellectual property rights (IPR) are associated with greater trade and
foreign direct investment flows, which in turn translate into faster rates of economic growth.” In the
United States alone, for example, studies in the past decade have estimated that over 50 percent of
U.S. exports now depend on some form of intellectual property protection, compared to less then 10
percent 50 years ago. Intellectually or artistically gifted people have the right to prevent the
unauthorized use or sale of their creations, just the same as owners of physical property, such as
cars, buildings, and stores. Yet, compared to makers of chairs, refrigerators, and other tangible
goods, people whose work is essentially intangible face more diffi culties in earning a living if their
claim to their creations is not respected. Artists, authors, inventors, and others unable to rely on
locks and fences to protect their work turn to IP rights to keep others from harvesting the fruits of
their labor.
Copyright
Fundamentally, copyright is a law that gives you ownership over the things you create. Be it a
painting, a photograph, a poem or a novel, if you created it, you own it and it’s the copyright law
itself that assures that ownership. The ownership that copyright law grants comes with several rights
that you, as the owner, have exclusively. Those rights include:

 The right to reproduce the work

 to prepare derivative works
 to distribute copies
 to perform the work
 and to display the work publicly

These are your rights and your rights alone. Unless you willingly give them up (EX: A Creative
Commons License), no one can violate them legally. This means that, unless you say otherwise, no
one can perform a piece written by you or make copies of it, even with attribution, unless you give
the OK.
Inversely, if you’re looking for material to use or reuse, you should not do any of these things
without either asking permission or confirming that the work is in the public domain, which means
that the copyright has expired and all of the above rights have been forfeited. Simply put, if the work
isn’t in the public domain and you don’t have permission to use a piece, you put yourself in risk of
legal action, regardless of your intentions.
Because, beyond fair use and parody (issues for later essays), the holder of a copyrighted piece has
near carte blanche to do what they want with their work. It’s no different than owning a car, a house
or a pen. One can lend it out to a friend, sell it, modify it or even destroy it. In short, if you own the
copyright to something, you have the same rights that you do with anything else and, in some
instances, even more. After all, you did create it. It only makes sense that you would own the fruits
of your labor. That’s what copyright law is all about.

Patents
An intellectual property right granted by the government of a nation to an inventor that gives him or
her the exclusive right to the invention for up to 20 years, in exchange for disclosing the details of
the new technology to society for its ultimate benefit.
To be patentable your invention must:

 Be new - never been made public in any way, anywhere in the world, before the date on
which the application for a patent is filed.
 Involve an inventive step - if when compared with what is already known, it would not be
obvious to someone with good knowledge and experience of the subject.
 Be capable of industrial application - an invention must be capable of being made or used in
some kind of industry. This means that the invention must take the practical form of an
apparatus or device, a product such as some new material or an industrial process or method
of operation.
An invention is not patentable if it is:

 A discovery
 A scientific theory or mathematical method
 An aesthetic creation, literary, dramatic or artistic work
 A scheme or method for performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business
 The presentation of information or a computer program
 If the invention involves more than these abstract aspects so that it has physical features
(such as special apparatus to play a new game) then it may be patentable.

Trade Secrets
A trade secret is some information that gives a company an advantage over its competitors. Its value
lies in the fact that it is not widely known, and making it known would deminish that value. Trade
secrets are protected under law, notabley by the Lanham Act and Uniform Trade Secrets Act,
however there is no formal registration procedure. Protection lasts only as long as the trade secret
remains that way, but can last forever if nobody discloses the secret.

Anything that has independent economic value for a company can be considered a trade secret. This
includes:
 Recipes and formulas, like the KFC Colonel's secret recipe
 New inventions for which you have not filed a patent application
 Marketing techniques unique to the company
 Manufacturing methods
 A company's customer information
Not all trade secrets are necessarily intended to be kept forever. You may only need to keep them
secret until you are ready to reveal them. For example, if you plan to patent your invention, it is only
a trade secret until you do so, because your patent application effectively makes the information
public.

Trademarks
A trademark is a sign or symbol we can use to distinguish our business’ goods or services from
those of other enterprises. It is a symbol, word or words legally registered or established by long-
term use as representing a company or its product.

There are three possible spellings for the word: 1. Trademark – more common in the USA. 2. Trade-
mark – more common in Canada. 3. Trade mark – more common in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New
Zealand and the rest of the English-speaking world outside of North America.

When your trademark is registered, your brand (mark) is protected – other people cannot legally use
it without your permission.
According to Forbes,the most valuable trademarks in the world are: Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM,
General Electric, Vodafone, Bank of America and Walmart.

After registration, a trademark is protected forever, as long as you renew it every ten years. As it is a
form of intellectual property, it can be licensed or assigned to others.

When your trade mark is registered, you will be able to:

– Sue anybody who uses your brand without permission, including counterfeiters

– Place the ® symbol next to your brand. The TM sign denotes that the mark is being used by the
business as its trademark, but does not necessarily mean that it is registered or protected under
intellectual property law.
 References

Ms. Caroline MORGAN, General Manager, Corporate Services Division, Copyright Agency
Limited, Australia https://www.accu.or.jp/appreb/10copyr/pdf_ws0810/c2_02.pdf

Copyright. (September 12, 2017). Retrieved September 19, 2017 from WIPO-World Intellectual
Property Organization: http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/

Patent Cooperation Treaty.(August 12, 2017). Retrieved August 20, 2017, from WIPO-World
Intellectual Property Organization: http://www.wipo .int/pct /en/texts/articles/atoc.html.