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IPR AND THE DIGITAL WORLD

Author: Muskan Sharma, V year of B.A.,LL.B.(Hons.) from Amity University


Introduction

In modern world that we live today is civilised and that was built from the technological advances. The development in creation of information technology becomes a digital world. Digital makes our life more comfortable and well-organized. But everything in the world has its two faces that something has positive and useful in one scenario and can be negative in another. In present scenario, when the inventor come up with his new creation the great threat to his work is imitation. IPR awareness is most important among the creators because in digital environment it become more difficult to prove right violation. Intellectual property is intangible in nature if it is stolen then it may be difficult to recover. This article particularly focuses in Intellectual Property Right in Digital World. The delivery of services in modern and digital world are changing the world for the better but they also thrown up challenges in terms of managing problem.

Keywords:- Intellectual property right (IPR), digital environment.


Intellectual Property Rights

The word intellectual is originated from the word “Intellectus” which means understanding. An intellectual product is the creation of human intellect in the form of original ideas and creative thoughts which is a special kind of property is known as Intellectual Property. Intellectual property rights are the rights given to individuals who are the creators and inventors of a work. The inventor gets the exclusive rights for his invention. If any person has taken the creative work of inventor without his prior consent then he has to deal with some legal consequences. These exclusive rights are granted for limited period of time after the lapse of time period the work goes into public domain.


In the digital world the main concern of IPR is to provide the privacy to the inventor. If any person comes up with new and creative idea and cannot registered his work under IPR then he is not able to claim is rights, his work can easily be pirated by others. Intellectual Property Rights can be broadly classified into two categories that is- Industrial property and Copyright.


Industrial property consist of Patent, Trademark, Industrial Designs, geographical indication etc. Copyright protect rights related to the creation of human mind in field of literary, musical scientific, artistic work.


Copyright

An individual creates a product that is original and creative then copyright law grants protection for that work. Copyright grant protection to the literary work, dramatic work , artistic work, musical work and cinematography films and sound recordings. Copyright law gives a copyright holder an exclusive right to control others form coping his work for a certain period of time. The copyright protection is for sixty years from the beginning of calendar year to the next following year. All types of work cannot be protected under copyright law. In copyright the original work to fall under creation, it has to be in tangible form, this means speech, musical work such as lyrics have to be written down in physical form in order to protected by copyright.


Example of copyright, in the last few years the piracy of musical work is frequently subject to controversy in news. The piracy of 90’s music into mixtapes, we all are aware about this infringement process.


In digital world, creative and initial work is merely changed into digital work without any creativity. For example, photocopies and xerox copy of any work which is already in existence is not creativity and it could be consider as a similar activity to reprography. Simply transformation of an original information through a digital form is not consider as creativity. The same issue was arisen in the DU photocopy case[1].


Patens

An exclusive right granted to an inventor for a product or process. Patent is a form of intellectual property that gives the owner a legal right and exclude others form making, using, importing and selling without the permission of inventor. The patentability of any invention must require that the invention must be new and novel, non-obvious, useful and should not be fall under public domain means the society should not be already well worse with such type of invention. A patent provide protection to a patent owner for his invention generally it is limited to 20 years. The patent right fall under civil law, if the inventor has registered his invention under patent law then he has the right to claim legal remedy or enforce his or her right in case of infringement. The registration of the invention is most important in this competitive world if the inventor may not register his invention he is not able to claim any sort of legal protection.


Trademark

Trademark mark means the mark capable of distinguishing the goods and services of one person from that of others. Trademark include shape of goods, packing and combination of colours. The trademark is basically used to identify that the product as belong to a specific company. Trademark include many other mark such as service mark which is used to identifies and distinguish the source of a service. The term trademark is often used to refer as service mark.


In digital word, social media inflict some serious problems to the trademark such as counterfeiting goods, fake or copied goods harm the reputation of a brand. The customers of the genuine brand are confused with the counterfeit goods on social media and buy fake products.


Conclusion

The digital world is making our life easier. We can easily get any type of information on internet. But the digital environment raise the problem in the world of IPR. Intellectual Property Rights provide exclusive rights to owner to use his inventive work. It is difficult to draw a line between what is permissible to use or what not? It is almost impossible for the owner to identify which person is used his or her work because the information is distributed in large number. So, with the advancement of world improvement in the laws are also require. The main aim of IPR is to protect the invention and encourage others but the increment in level of piracy create bad impact. There is a great need to create a protective environment and make a balance between all factors. IPR awareness is the most important aspect in this emerging world. Greater protection of intellectual work may lead to inspiration in other inventors. The protection of IPR should be improved in all its field.


[1]THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS & SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD & ORS. v. RAMESHWARI PHOTOCOPY SERVICES & ANR.

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