Paper No : 01 Knowledge Society

Module Principal Investigator

: 09 Intellectual Property Rights: Copyright
&
Subject Coordinator

Development Team
Paper Coordinator
Principal Investigator
Dr. Jagdish Arora, Director
&
INFLIBNET Centre, Gandhinagar
Subject Coordinator
Content Writer

Prof K S Raghavan
Paper Coordinator
Content Reviewer
Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological Engineering (KAnOE), PES Institute
of Technology
Dr Sanjeevi Amba
Content Writer Retd Scientist, Central Leather Research Institute

Prof K S Raghavan
Content Reviewer Visiting Scientist, Centre for Knowledge Analytics
and Ontological Engineering (KAnOE), PES
Institute of Technology

Paper Coordinator
Definitions, Glossary and Terms

(To be read in conjunction with “ Learn More” and “Do You Know” material given at the end of
each section).

General

Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM): This body administers all
matters pertaining to Patents, Designs, Trademarks, and Geographical Indications. Functions
under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement: An international

treaty administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Sets minimum standards for many
forms of intellectual property including copyright.

World Intellectual Property Organisation: A global forum for intellectual property services,
policy, information and cooperation established in 1967 and is a specialized agency of the UN
headquartered in Geneva

Copyright

Assignment: The copyright is permanently transferred to another party on contractual basis.

Berne Convention: Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of
1886. 167 countries are parties to the Convention. The convention established three
fundamental principles. These are “national treatment”, “independence of protection” and
“automatic protection”.

Copyleft: A general method for making a program or software free.

Copyright and neighbouring (related) rights: A right of use given by the law to the creaors of
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works for a specified period of time. Grants the creator of
an original work the exclusive rights to its use and distribution. Protects copyright holders from
unauthorised use of their works.

Collective Rights Management Organisation (CRMO)/Collecting Society (CS)/r Copyright

Collective (CC): These organisations act as a bridge between the users and the rights owners to
collect and distributes royalties.

Creative Commons (CC): “A nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity
and knowledge through free legal tools”. It provides the creator of a work ways to authorize
specific uses of their work while retaining control over other uses. Creative Commons Licenses
do not replace the regular copyright.

Derivative Work: A derivative work is one that adapts or modifies an existing work, for
example, a movie based on a novel, adaptations, translations etc. Copyright may be given to the
work independent of the original work which has its own copyright. Similarly, anthologies,
collections of work also have their own copyright.

Economic rights: The right to copy the work, which includes storing it electronically, the right to
issue copies, to rent or lend it, to perform or display or to make adaptations or translations of the
work.

Fair use: Copying of copyrighted material done for limited and permitted purposes, without
permission from the copyright owner. The use should not substantially impair or curtail the
profits which can be reasonably expected by the owner.

First Sale Doctrine: An individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from
the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular
copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner.

Infringement: Refers to unauthorized use of works without permission of the copyright holder.

Intellectual Property: Types of property that result from creations of the human mind, the
intellect. It can be divided into copyright and related rights on the one hand and industrial
property on the other. Industrial property covers patents, trademarks and designs.

Licenses: When a work is licensed, the copyright holder authorizes others to engage in activities
covered by the license. This is done on the payment of a fee.

Marrakesh Treaty: Adopted by the members of the World Intellectual Property Organization in
Morocco in June 2013. It requires the adoption of copyright exceptions to improve access by
print-disabled persons to copyrighted works.

Moral rights: These rights give the creator of a work the right to be identified as the creator and
the right to prohibit destruction or degradation of the work.

Orphan works: Works that are still protected by copyright but whose copyright holder cannot be
located.

Public domain: Refers to such works that are not protected by copyright. This body of
knowledge and creativity is considered to be part of a common cultural and intellectual heritage
to be exploited or used by anyone.

Related Rights or Neighboring Rights: Rights granted to protect persons other than authors who
disseminate copyrighted works. They cover the rights of performers and broadcasters etc.

Rental Rights and Lending Rights: Rental rights cover situations wherein a work might be rented
out for commercial purposes. Lending Right refers to situations wherein a work is given for use
for free.

The Rome Convention: This convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of
Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations was accepted by members of the WIPO in 1961. It
secures protection in performances of performers, phonograms of producers of phonograms and
broadcasts of broadcasting organizations.

Term of Copyright: Refers to the duration of copyright protection. This varies from country to
country.

The Universal Copyright Convention (UCC): Adopted at Geneva in 1952, the UCC was
developed by UNESCO as an alternative to the Berne Convention.

WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT):
Known together as the "Internet Treaties". The WCT and WPPT aim at providing protection in
the digital environment.

Patents

Applicant/Inventor: The inventor need not necessarily be the applicant i.e. the one who applies
for the patent. The inventor and the owner of the patent may be different. The rights to the
property can be assigned to others by the inventor. For instance, in a government funded research
institute or an academic institution, the inventor assigns the patent to the institute or a university.
The assignee applies for the patent and has the property right to the patent. Assignee refers to the
person(s) or corporate body to whom all or limited rights under a patent are legally transferred.

Criteria for Patenting: Three criteria have to be fulfilled for an invention to be patented. These
are Novelty; Non-obviousness and Utility.

Ever greening: A strategy allegedly adopted by some to renew their patents by bringing in
some minor changes when the patent is about to expire. A patent on the new form would
then give them monopoly for a further period. Indian patent law prevents the ever-greening
of a patent. (Section 3(d) of India’s Patent Act) .

Infringement: It is the violation of the exclusive rights of the patentee.

Patents: The right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell the
invention for a certain number of years and to exclude others from doing so. It also refers to the
invention or the process thus protected.

The patent document is the document which confers this right.

Prior Art: It is the total body of knowledge about an invention, a product or a process of
manufacture and is not restricted to documentary sources of information alone. This knowledge
is not country specific but is world wide. Knowledge of prior art is necessary to confirm novelty
and non-obviousness.

Priority Date: Priority date is generally the date of first filing allotted by the patent office to an
application. When a patent is being applied for in several countries Priority Date is the filing date
of the first application in any of the countries under specific treaties. Though the date of filing is
generally accepted as priority date it is not always so in all countries.
Term of a Patent: The maximum period during which the patent is in force.

Trade Mark

Trade Mark: It is a visual symbol used to label goods or services so as to distinguish the goods or
services offered by one undertaking from those offered by another. Trademarks should be
distinctive and should not be deceptive

Service Mark: It is the same as a trademark used to identify a service and not a product.

Industrial Designs: “Relates to the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of a product that could be
consumer or industry oriented. It is concerned with shape, texture, colour, configuration and
pattern etc. or the combination thereof of any object.

Geographical Indication

Appellation of Origin (AO): It is a special category of GI

Geographical Indication: It is a notice stating that a given product has its origin in a given
geographical area. It could apply to both agricultural produce as well as handicrafts and
manufactures associated with a region. The party registering the GI and authorized users are
given the legal right to make exclusive use of the GI and to exclude unauthorised persons from
using it.

Some Important Websites:

IPR: Copyright

http://copyright.gov.in/

www.wipo.int)

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/orphan_works/index_en.htm

www.creativecommons.org

http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/EU_Database_Directive

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Stamps/Public_domain#India;
http://www.stampsofindia.com/infobase/laws.htm; www.indiapost.gov.in

(For details Ahmad Asir, Google Books Litigation Update, BERKELEY TECH. L.J.
BOLT (November 10, 2013), http://btlj.org/?p=3097.)

www.gnu.org