Software Patent and Copyright Laws in India
This Midterm Paper investigates the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), primarily Copyrights and Patents in India. The Paper performs a Legal as well as Ethical Analysis of the Indian IPR Laws. It recommends improvements; especially regarding Global Issues related to Software Patents and IPR over the Net by substantiating evidence from the Embassy of India Policy Statements and from a reputed magazine in India, called India Today. The author fully acknowledges citations from all the references.
Intellectual Property Rights in India
There is a well-established statutory, administrative and judicial framework to safeguard intellectual property rights in India, whether they relate to patents, trademarks, copyright or industrial designs. Well-known international trademarks have been protected in India even when they were not registered in India. The Indian Trademarks Law has been extended through court decisions to service marks in addition to trademarks for goods. Computer software companies have successfully curtailed piracy through court orders. Computer databases have been protected. The courts, under the doctrine of breach of confidentiality, accorded an extensive protection of trade secrets. Right to privacy, which is not protected even in some developed countries, has been recognized in India. [1]
Protection of intellectual property rights in India continues to be strengthened further. The year 1999 witnessed the consideration and passage of major legislation with regard to protection of intellectual property rights in harmony with international practices and in compliance with India's obligations under TRIPS.
As regards the aspect enforcement, Indian enforcement agencies are now working very effectively and there has been a notable decline in the levels of piracy in India. In addition to intensifying raids against copyright infringers, the Government has taken a number of measures to strengthen the enforcement of copyright law. Special cells for copyright enforcement have been set up in 23 States and Union Territories. In addition, for collective administration of copyright, copyright societies have been set up for different classes of works.
Copyright Protection in India
India has one of the most modern copyright protection laws in the world. Major development in the area of copyright during 1999 was the amendment to the Copyright Act of 1957 to make it fully compatible with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. Called the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999, this amendment was signed by the President of India on December 30, 1999 and came into force on January 15, 2000.
The earlier 1994 amendment to the Copyright Act of 1957 had provided protection to all original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematography, films and sound recordings.
Throughout Australia, copyright is established under the ‘Commonwealth Legislation’, the ‘Copyright Act 1968’. This is updated periodically for the purpose of taking into account, the changes in technology, where International Treaties can also apply. Regulations that specify matter related to the operation of the Copyright Act are the ‘Copyright
Prior to the enactment of the Statute of Anne in 1710, the idea of copyright law, remained in the private law context, was in hands of profit-making stationers' company who only served to uphold their own interests in printing the materials. The Statute of Anne deeply affected the American law of copyright (Patterson, 1965) marking the beginning of copyright in a public context. Although the Statute itself had handful of loopholes like it only governed the printing of books and did not stipulate any means to identify the author, it was still often referred as the most authoritative legislation document because of its groundbreaking, historical impact on its protection to the natural and property rights of authors. In my essay, the Copyright Ordinance in Hong Kong will be illustrated to show that it succeeded the spirit of Statute of Anne, favoring the vigorous and prospering development creative work in our city. I would also suggest some ways to amend the Law in the modern circumstances where Web 2.0 Communication Tools reinvented the creative industry significantly.
However, despite the strong copyright policy and punishment of the United States Federal Copyright Act, as enforced by police as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), piracy still rages on, especially...
“Copyright is a fundamental right of ownership and protection common to all of the arts” (O’Hara & Beard, 2006, p. 8). “It is a form of intellectual Property (IP)” and it gives the owner exclusive rights to the copyright (O’Hara & Beard, 2006, p. 11).
Intellectual property is an incredibly complicated facet of the law. In the United States, we have many laws in place to control and limit profiting from others intellectual property. The issue is not only profiting from others intellectual property, but not purchasing the property from the originator as well. We will discuss why it is important to protect this property as well as why it is tremendously difficult to regulate all these safe guards. “Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a banana.” Bill Gates
Foster, Sharon E. "Prelude to Compatibility between Human Rights and Intellectual Property." Chicago Journal of International Law 9.1 (2008): 171-211. ProQuest.Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property
Victor Rosario Professor Jeff Smith BUL 2241 08/27/2017 The Copyright Term Extension Act The first federal copyright act was The Copyright Act of 1790. Due to The Copyright Act of 1790 mainly focusing on chart, map and book authors protection; it has needed to be altered and added to over time to produce more adequate copyright protections for the many people creating creative works. There have been several expansions to The Copyright Act of 1790 and one of those expansions is The Copyright Term Extension Act that was passed in 1998.
Copyright, in its first form, was first introduced in 1710 with a British statute of Anne. Since this time copyright laws have changed to remain current, and have grown into an international agreement by many countries around the globe.
Consequently, innovation requires the support from intellectual property protection as it critical to fostering innovation. Intellectual property protects more than just an idea or a concept but it also protects genuine business assets that may be integral to the core services of the business and overall long-tern viability. Defensible intellectual property is one of the top things venture capitalists wanted to see in a business, particularly, a startup. Without protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not reap the full benefits of their inventions and would focus less on research and development. The strongest protection comes from registering the work thus enables the creators to put a claim upon their work into public view, and discouraging people from using the work without permission.
Intellectual property (IP) is defined as property that is developed through an intellectual and creative processes. Intellectual property falls under the category of property known as intangible rights, which includes patents (inventions of processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter), copyrights (original artistic and literary works of), trademarks (commercial symbols), and trade secrets ((product formulas, patterns, designs). Intellectual property rights has a significant value to both individuals and businesses, providing in the case of large companies, over one half of their value on return. Since intellectual property rights are so important to the U.S. economy and its citizens, federal and state law provides protection, for example, civil damages and criminal penalties to be assessed against infringers. Due to the importance of intellectual property to a business, I don’t think that its protection and enforcement is going to be a thing of the past.
There are many reason that why is it important to protect one’s intellectual property. Some of the reason are Creator being accused as a theft, Loss of Reputation, Loss of income, Loss of Asset and Loss of Authority Rights.
In its simplest terms, copyright is the U.S. government’s way of protecting the rights of anyone creating an original work, such as a play, song, poem, book, or artwork. Only the work’s original author or creator can make copies, distribute, sell, perform or adapt that work. Originally passed into law 35 years ago, the Copyright Act of 1976 has undergone many changes in the wake of advancing technology, including such changes as categorizing any work on the Internet as “published” (Copyright Act of 1976). Of
The World Intellectual Property Organization, Intellectual property is the ‘products of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, any symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce’. Intellectual Properties such as Patents, designs, trademarks and copyrights are protected by laws .The US government offers different types of protection for these properties. The Lanham Act (15 U.S.C.A. section 1051 et seq) also known as the trademark act of 1946 provides protection for trademarks. A trademark is defined as a name, a word, a symbol, or device or any combination thereof, adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured and sold by others. (Miaoulis 1978)
Copyright is a protection for authors, composers or artists and other creators who create innovative idea base work. Copyright law is important because of its role to protect the interests of the creator, while allowing others to gain access to it legally. It designed to make sure that creators receive appropriate rights for their own ideas and creativity, and to promote artistic creativity by protecting the creator.