Introduction
Being a part of the twenty first century can be considered privileged; you can create and share almost anything you can imagine. Most would say this is a good thing, unless you are apart of the business side of the world. Creating new products online or outside of the Internet can cost a price to the creator. With the Internet and new technologies that are available, people now can go and create new products and ideas that have not been created before. After the creating of this new product, song, line of code, or anything else you could imagine, how do you protect it? This is where intellectual property rights come into hand in today’s world. “An intellectual property right is a right that is had by a person or by a company to have exclusive rights to use its own plans, ideas, or other intangible assets without the worry of competition, at least for a period of time. These rights also include copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets” (HG.org, legal resources).
In many cases, copyright infringement is happening online. People have been copying, stealing ideas, illegally downloading media and hacking information, causing copyright infringements to occur. A few cases dealing with this is happening with the new technology that is 3D printing. Along with this, other problems with copyright infringement are the continued issues that are illegal downloading of media. These are growing problems and are difficulties that not only affect United States, but also all over the World.
Current Situation
Illegal Downloading
Since the Internet began, people have been sharing files with each other around the world. Many of these files are music, video, and other forms of media. But these files are illegal copies of...
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...nsumer use, this technology is a new creators toy, but it also becomes an enabler for some. What 3D printers are enabling is the decentralization of 3D printing of copyrighted object. The increasing awareness of printing objects as counterfeits will generate more copyright infringement to occur. This has been compared to the Internet in the early 2000s allowing millions of people to illegally download music and not think of it as wrong. With the increasing popularity of 3D printers, it has been “…predicted that 3D printing infringement will devalue IP rights and that even the best efforts to stop this surge in infringement will fall short (Depoorter, 2014 p.4) As more people become desensitized to the lack of enforcement of copyright laws; the same as downloading music or other media, the more people will be apt to print others intellection property. (See Footnote 5)
There is a long history of intellectual property rights, as it was “Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, developed around 1450, that made books quickly available at a reasonable cost”, that made writers begin to worry about their books being distributed without their permission., and therefore they would not make the profits from usual sales (Cushman). Fast forward some years, to the late twentieth century, when a “two-part invention, the computer and the Internet, had a similar impact as the printing press”, enabling people to simply copy and share files, as on the Internet all forms of media are composed of binary code, ensuring that all electronic devices can read them (Cushman). To help protect these copyrights, the World Intellectual Property Organization was created in 1967 by NATO to replace the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property which was an agency that was created to observe the Berne Convention which is an international agreement to recognize patents.
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...
Internet-based file-sharing systems are gaining popularity, and consequently the sharing of copyrighted materials has become rampant. Fueled by server-based systems such as FreeDrive and peer-to-peer systems such as Napster, copyrighted materials are being propagated all over the Internet, and while shutting down such systems seems to answer some of these problems, it is in no way a complete solution. By examining these file-sharing systems and the legal issues that envelope them, more appropriate regulatory means may be discovered.
Piracy is the copying of copyrighted material without permission from the author. Because technology is always changing, there are no fail safe methods of preventing piracy. Soon after a new preventative method comes out, someone finds a way around it, making pr...
Intellectual property rights (IPR) are extremely boring. This is a simple truth. There is nothing exciting about discussing copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets. There is no such thing as an invigorating discussion revolving around the legal battles of Isaac Newton v. Gottfried Wilhelm. It just doesn’t happen. What does happen, however, are “invigorating discussions” revolving around sites like Limewire and megashare being shut down. A woman who was sued for illegally downloading ten songs was found guilty and forced to pay a fee of $10,000.
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
Intellectual Property (IP) is a legal concept that refers to the creations of the human minds for which exclusive rights are recognized. A variety of tangible assets are granted rights to the owners, artistes or innovators for a specified duration. IP is an intangible asset to a company as it gives commercial business partner and financial institutions the confidence to invest or in any way collaborate with the business. Business owners will also be able to maximize the value of their Intellectual Property by ways such as franchising, transaction or licensing.
Intellectual property is an intangible type of property commonly thought of as the product of intellectual activity. Inventions, original works of art, know-how, magazine articles, books, computer programs, photographs, poems, movies, songs, theatrical performances, speeches, experimental results, sound recordings, and music scores are all examples of intellectual property. As such, they all are assets that may be valuable and worthy of protection. Intellectual property law is the body of laws that provide the conditions under which intellectual property may be protected and establish the rights of the owners. Thus, it is important to be able to identify what is intellectual property, on one hand, and how to protect it, on the other. Generally speaking, different areas of the law exist to protect different kinds of intellectual property, with some overlap in some cases.
[i]nformation that derives its intrinsic value from creative ideas. It is also information with a commercial value. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are bestowed on owners of ideas, inventions and creative expression that have the status of property. Like tangible property, IPRs give owners the right to exclude others from access to or use of their property. (United States Information Agency, "Intellectual Property Rights Protection")
Along with the development of a file format (MP3) to store digital audio recordings, came one of the new millennium’s most continuous debates – peer-to-peer piracy – file sharing. Internet companies such as Napster and Grokster became involved in notable legal cases in regards to copyright laws in cyberspace. These two cases are similar in nature, yet decidedly different. In order to understand the differences and similarities, one should have an understanding of each case as well as the court’s ruling.
This mindset has set the stage for a new practice called digital piracy. People will post movies or music online without permission from the makers and let others watch the content for less money or even for free. This sparked a
Over the past decade the societal view of creative society has greatly changed due to advances in computer technology and the Internet. In 1995, aware of the beginning of this change, two authors wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing diametrically opposed views on how this technological change would take form, and how it would affect copyright law. In the article "The Emperor's Clothes Still Fit Just Fine" Lance Rose hypothesized that the criminal nature of copyright infringement would prevent it from developing into a socially acceptable practice. Thus, he wrote, we would not need to revise copyright law to prevent copyright infringement. In another article, Entitled "Intellectual Value", Esther Dyson presented a completely different view of the copyright issue. She based many her arguments on the belief that mainstream copyright infringement would proliferate in the following years, causing a radical revision of American ideas and laws towards intellectual property. What has happened since then? Who was right? This paper analyzes the situation then and now, with the knowledge that these trends are still in a state of transformation. As new software and hardware innovations make it easier to create, copy, alter, and disseminate original digital content, this discussion will be come even more critical.
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.
The first reason why downloading and uploading copyrighted materials from the Internet should be legal is that downloading copyrighted materials positively affects the economy. The European Commission Joint Research Center reported that the profits of music companies would be 2% lower if uploading and downloading copyrighted materials were banned. However, music companies are able to acquire more profits despite illegal downloading because many people tend to purchase CDs or DVDs after watching or listening to copyrighted materials for free. Moreover, the research showed that people who download music illegally spent more money to buy music than people who did not download illegally. In addition, research conducted by the Swiss government informed that one-third of Swiss people downloaded copyrighted materials from the Internet because personal use of copyrighted materials is legal in Switzerland. Even though there is a fact that many people can download copyrighted materials from the Internet legally in Switzerland, the amount of money that people spend to buy copyrighted materials is not f...