www.tvtc.gov.

sa Ethics and cyber low

By / Mashael Alhjori
 Outline
Introduction to intellectual property rights:
• Copyright law
• The law of confidence
• Patent law
• Trademarks and passing off
• The law relating to designs
• Semiconductor Regulations

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

Copyright law

As its name suggests, copyright protects works from being copied without permission.
Copyright goes beyond mere copying, however, and extends to other activities such as making an file
Adaptation of the work in question, performing or showing the work in public, communicating
the work to the public (for example, by broadcasting it or placing it on a website from where it is
can be downloaded) and dealing with infringing copies of the work. The types of works pro tected by copyright are:
■ literary works (including computer programs, preparatory design material for computer pro grams and databases);
■ dramatic, musical and artistic works;
■ sound recordings, films, broadcasts; and
■ typographical arrangements of published editions.
Copyright protection has a long duration, the general yardstick being the life of the author (normally the creator of the work)
plus 70 years or, depending on the type of work, 50 or 70 years
of copyright as a form of protection are that it is free and that no formalities are required;
In short, most things, if they have been recorded in some tangible form (for example, by writing or printing or by storing the
work on a magnetic or optical disk), are protected by copyright, subject to some
basic requirements being satisfied. Copyright law is of vital importance to the computer software
industry and to people who prepare, record or transmit all kinds of works (for example, literary
works such as books, reports, letters or musical works) using computer technology

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ The law of confidence

The law of confidence protects information which is not in the public domain. Unlike copyright
and patent law, the law of confidence is not defined by statute and derives almost entirely from
case law. The scope of this branch of intellectual property is considerable and it protects trade
secrets, business know-how and information such as lists of clients and contacts, information of
a personal nature and even ideas which have not yet been expressed in a tangible form (for
example, an idea for a new dramatic play, an idea for a new computer program or a new method
of doing business using e-commerce). The law of confidence will protect the contents of many
databases. However, the major limitation is that the information concerned must be of a confidential nature and the effectiveness of the law
of confidence is largely or completely destroyed if
the information concerned falls into the public domain: that is, if it becomes available to the
public at large or becomes common knowledge to a particular group of the public such as computer software companies. Nevertheless, the
law of confidence can be a useful supplement to
copyright and patent law as it can protect ideas before they are sufficiently developed to attract
copyright protection or to enable an application for a patent to be made. Being rooted in equity,
the law of confidence is very flexible and has proved capable of taking new technological developments in its stride.

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ The law of confidence

also important in respect of employees and ex-employees and there is often a tension between a
previous employer’s confidential information and an ex-employee’s right to make use of his own
skill and experience including what he has learnt during his previous employment. The law of
confidence attempts to protect employer’s confidential information from unfair use but will
draw short of protecting that employer from fair competition.

❑ PATENT LAW

Patent law is concerned with new inventions such as a new type of computer hardware, or a new
process for use in the manufacture of integrated circuits. For an invention to be protected by a
patent formal application must be made to the relevant patent office, an expensive and lengthy
process and, if granted, the patent can be renewed for a total period of up to 20 years.

Three routes are open to the potential patentee: a UK patent; a European Patent Convention (EPC) patent applying in respect of three
or more of the Member States of the Convention; or a Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) patent designating some or all of the countries
covered by the treaty.

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ PATENT LAW
The choice of countries in which to obtain protection is obviously of fundamental importance and
requires careful planning and timing.
One proviso is that a resident of the UK may not, under certain circumstances, file an application
outside the UK for an invention relating to military technology or if its publication would be prejudicial
to national security or public safety.
To be patentable, an invention must be new, involve an inventive step, be capable of industrial application and
not be excluded. Most things which are protected directly by copyright law such as a literary work are excluded
from patentability as such: therefore, a new computer program as such cannot normally be protected by a
patent. The same applies to methods of doing business

❑ TRADE MARKS AND PASSING OFF

Everyone is familiar with trade marks; they are very common and there are many examples in
the computer industry: for example, the Apple logo, the terms ‘Microsoft’, ‘Windows’ and ‘Adobe
Acrobat’ and the Dell monogram. Trade marks are often in the form of a word (sometimes
stylized) or a symbol or both and registration is provided for by the Trade Marks Act 1994.
Marks may be registered in respect of goods or services. To be registrable as a trade mark, the mark must be distinctive and capable of being
represented graphically. Distinctiveness requires that the
mark must be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of
other undertakings. (‘Undertaking’ is the modern word used to describe a trader.) In other
words, trade marks must function as ‘badges of origin’: their fundamental purpose is to indicate
the origin of the goods or services in respect of which they have been used or applied. Trade
marks are very important as they become associated with successful products and purchasers will
often buy or order goods or services by reference to the mark.

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ THE LAW RELATING TO DESIGNS

The statutory provisions covering rights in new designs are complicated and have been subject
to considerable change and development. Essentially, under UK law there are two types of right:
registered designs and a design right which is not subject to registration. The former is available
for designs which are new and have an individual character, the latter being measured by the
overall impression it produces on an informed user. For registered designs, a ‘design’ is the
appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the
lines, contours, colours, shape, texture or materials of the product or its ornamentation. For
designs subject to the design right, ‘design’ means the ‘design of any aspect of the shape or configuration (whether
external or internal) of the whole or part of an article’. This area of law is
complex and this is compounded by the fact that the distinction between the rights is not easy
to draw, as there is considerable overlap as regards the rights inter se and with respect to copyright law.
The durations of the rights are different, being a maximum of 25 years for registered designs
and a maximum of 15 years for the design right . For the last five years of the design right, licences of right are
available. That means that
anyone is entitled to a licence to copy the design. The licence will be subject to terms agreed
between the parties or, failing agreement, to be fixed by the Comptroller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (the
head of the Patent Office).
These two forms of rights in designs might be appropriate for items such as a new design for
a computer mouse or a new design of laptop computer, keyboard or printer. Design rights and
the exceptions to them also have implications for the manufacturers of spare parts, where the
design is dictated by the shape of the article with which the spare part must fit or match, as we

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ THE LAW RELATING TO DESIGNS

shall see. The appropriate statutes are the Registered Designs

Act 1949 (as amended) and Part III of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The most
significant recent amendment, implementing a Directive on the legal protection of designs3 took
.
place on 9 December 2001. This made major changes to the UK law on registered designs. These
changes mean that typefaces and graphic symbols, including computer icons and other images,
may now be registered as designs. This was not generally the case previously and represents a significant change
for the computer software industry. Computer programs, however, may not be
protected by either form of right.
To further complicate matters, a system of Community-wide design rights was introduced in
2003.4 This provides for two forms of protection, a registered monopoly right very similar to the
UK registered design and which also can be renewed for up to 25 years maximum, and an informal unregistered right
which lasts for three years only. The unregistered right is subject to the
same basic requirements as the registered right and is very different to the UK’s unregistered

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ SEMICONDUCTOR REGULATIONS

Integrated circuits are protected by virtue of the Design Right (Semiconductor) Regulations 1989
which apply a modified version of the design right to semiconductors. They are given 15 years’
maximum protection (15 years from creation or 10 years from commercial exploitation,
whichever is the lesser). As with the UK’s unregistered design right generally, there is no requirement for registration in the UK and
.there are a number of similarities with copyright law. It is
the ‘topography’ of the chip which is protected, that is, the patterns fixed in or upon the layers of
the semiconductor or the arrangement of the layers of the semiconductor product.

Before looking at each of the intellectual property rights in more detail in the following chapters, Table summarizes the scope,
duration and formalities associated with the various intellectual property rights

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 Introduction to intellectual property rights

❑ SEMICONDUCTOR REGULATIONS

formalities (UK only) Duration examples with respect to types of works protected Right
computers
None Copyright is automatic Generally 70 years from the computer programs and Original literary, dramatic, Copyright
upon the work being created. end of the calendar year preparatory design material. musical or artistic works; •
However, there are tests for during which the author dies Databases, other types of Sound recordings, films or
subsistence, such as for the original works and work made using a computer broadcasts; • Typographical
originality or that the work is films. For most of the other or generated by a computer: arrangement of published
the author’s own intellectual works the period is 50 years e.g. a weather forecast editions. (Computer
creation from a specific event automatically made by a programs, preparatory design
computer linked to weather material for computer
satellites or a computer-aided programs and databases are
design or music made using literary works)
a computer. Almost any form
of work in digital form
None Until subject matter falls into Idea for a new computer Almost anything of a Confidence
the public domain program or for a new confidential nature (such as a
invention (prior to patent), trade secret or commercially
secret algorithm, lists of important information not
customers, business already in the public domain)
methods, contents of
databases

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Formal application to the Renewable up to a maximum New type of printer or New inventions including Patent
Patent Office with detailed of 20 years computer, new method of products and industrial
specification, subject to making integrated circuits, processes
search and examination to industrial process controlled
ensure requirements by software
complied with
Formal application to register initially for 10 years and Dell’, ‘Microsoft’, ‘Oracle’, the Any sign capable of being Registered trade marks
at the UK Trade Marks renewable in 10-year periods Apple logo, ‘Adobe Acrobat’, represented graphically
Registry indefinitely ‘Netscape which is capable of
distinguishing goods or
services of one undertaking
from those of other
undertakings
Registration by application to Initially 5 years renewable by The appearance of the whole New designs, having an Passing off
the Design Registry at 5- year periods up to a or a part of a product individual character through
maximum of 25 years resulting from the features the eyes of the informed
of, in particular, the lines, observer
contours, colors, shape,
texture or materials of the
product or its ornamentation:
e.g. laptop computer, mouse,
computer peripherals and
accessories, computer fonts
and icons
None – automatic as with years 3 As for registered designs As for registered designs Community unregistered
copyright design
None – automatic as with years from creation or 10 15 CD or DVD storage system Original designs, being any UK unregistered design right
copyright years from first marketing (partly), keyboard design, aspect of shape or
(licences of right available mouse, internal components configuration (external or
during las if not commonplace internal) of the whole or part
of an article. Applies to
functional and aesthetic
designs. Spare parts and
surface decoration exclude
None years from creation or 10 15 Original design of integrated Topography (patterns or Semiconductor Regulations
years from commercial circuit which is not arrangements of layers within (modified form of the UK
exploitation (licences of right commonplace integrated circuit) design right)
not generally available during
the last five years)
SUMMARY
■ Copyright can protect computer programs, their preparatory design material and databases.
■ The law of confidence protects trade secrets, confidential technical and commercial information.
■ New software inventions may be patentable in some cases.
■ Trade marks for computer hardware and software companies can be registered as trade marks.
■ The law of passing off can be useful in the fight against cybersquatting.
■ Some forms of design law can protect graphic images and software fonts.
■ The topography of semiconductor products is protected if original and not commonplace.