Form of IP Protection
Copyright
From PD10
Copyright protects works where how ideas are expressed is critical to the work.
Copyright literally means “the right to copy”. The owner of a copyright on a piece of work has exclusive rights “to produce or reproduce the work in any substantial part thereof in any material form whatever.”
Some cases where copyright applies:
- Right to make photocopies of the work
- Right to publish the work
It isn’t just the reproduction of the entire work that IP law protects against. The law also protects against the reproduction of parts of an original work. To consider what is a “substantial” part of a work is a judgment call.
Some cool things about how copyright works in Canada:
- It is generally the case that the creator holds the initial copyright of their creations. However, IP rights are themselves a type of property that can be bought, sold, gifted, or inherited. In other words, as a creator, you can sell the IP rights of your works to another party or you can bequeath them when you die.
- Copyright protection starts automatically upon creation of the work and persists until 50 years after the creator’s death.
- After this, I guess it goes under public domain
- Publishing is not necessary for the work to be under copyright. Having its expression fixed in its final form or nearly final form is enough. That said, registration is useful if you ever need to prove your IP ownership in court.
How far does copyright protection extend?
Copyright protection extends automatically to the 167 countries that have signed the Berne Convention. This means that you do not have to register your copyright in those countries in order for your work to be protected in those countries.
There’s the Canadian Copyright act that you should look into.
Copyright literally means “the right to copy”. The owner of a copyright on a piece of work has exclusive rights “to produce or reproduce the work in any substantial part thereof in any material form whatever.”
Copyright vs. plagiarism?
Copyright has to do with having permission to make copies, and plagiarism has to do with proper citation.
Canadian Copyright: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/page-3.html#docCont
From CS138
Copyright is the legal basis of Free Software.
Important for Artists and Software Engineers.
- Copyright is a limited term monopoly granted by the government to the owner.
- Originally 7 years, but now 75 years.
- Copyright lets the owner decide what people may do with the material.
- Most copyright holders (e.g., Metallica) use copyright to stop people from redistributing or modifying their work.
- The FSF pioneered the idea of using copyright to grant freedoms rather than take them away