Chapter #8 Flashcards
What Is (Tangible) Property?
Originally, “property” referred to land.
Property now also includes objects that one can own, such as:
an automobile,
articles of clothing,
a DVD collection.
Essentially Physical items
Property as a “Relational” Concept
Philosophers and legal theorists point out that property can best be understood as a relationship between individuals in reference to things, where three elements need to be considered:
an individual (X ),
A “thing” or object (Y),
X’s relation to other individuals (A, B, C, etc.) in reference to Y.
Property as a Form of “Control” (read example)
X (as the owner of property Y) can control Y relative to persons A, B, C, and so forth.
If Harry owns a certain object (e.g. a Dell laptop computer), then Harry can control who has access to that object and how it is used.
For example, Harry has the right to exclude Sally from using that laptop; or he could grant her unlimited access to it.
Ownership claims involving “intellectual objects” (involving IP) are both similar to and different from ownership of tangible objects.
Intellectual Objects
intellectual object can refer to various forms or instances of intellectual property.
Intellectual property consists of “objects” that are not tangible.
Intellectual objects represent creative works and inventions, i.e., the manifestations or expressions of ideas.
Intellectual vs. Tangible Objects
Tangible objects are exclusionary in nature. Scarcity
Ex: If Harry owns a laptop computer (a physical object), then Sally cannot, and vice versa.
Intellectual objects, such as software programs, are non-exclusionary. Easily reprodueable
Ex: If Sally makes a copy of a word-processing program (that resides in Harry’s computer), then both Sally and Harry can possess copies of the same word-processing program.
Ownership of Intellectual vs. Tangible Objects
Legally, one cannot own an idea in the same sense that one can own a physical object.
Governments do not grant ownership rights to individuals for ideas per se.
Legal protection is given only to the tangible expression of an idea that is creative or original.
Intellectual property rights are grounded in two different types of views:
Natural rights and conventional rights
property right is a “natural right,”
which individuals are justified for the products that result from their labor, including intellectual objects.
property rights as a social construct
designed to encourage creators and inventors to bring forth their artistic works and inventions into the marketplace.
four schemes for protecting intellectual property:
Copyrights;
Patents;
Trademarks;
Trade secrets.
Copyright
Gives the copyright holder exclusive access to the work. Hence no one else can use it.
For a work to be protected under copyright law, it must satisfy three conditions in that it needs to be:
original;
non-functional;
fixed in a tangible medium.
Fair Use
Fair use means that an author or publisher may make limited use of another person’s copyrighted work for purposes such as:
criticism,
comment,
teaching,
scholarship,
research.
The First-Sale Doctrine in Copyright Law
It applies once the original work has been sold for the first time, when the original owner loses rights over the work of art.
Once you purchase a copy of a book, audio tape, painting, etc., you are free to give away, resell, or even destroy the copy of that work.
(This is for physical things, for digital making copies and distributing is illegal )
Patent Protections
A patent is a form of legal protection given to individuals who create an invention or process.
Unlike copyrights, patents offer a 20-year exclusive monopoly over an expression or implementation of a protected work.
