LA final exam chp5 Copyrights, trade secrets, international protection for intellectual property Flashcards
an intangible property right granted by federal statute to the author or originator of certain literary or artistic productions
copyright
copyrights can be registered with the
U.S copyright office (www.copyright.gov) in Washington DC
works created after january 1,1978 are automatically given
statutory copyright protection for the life of the author plus 70 years
works that are copyrightable include
books, records, films, artworks, architectural plans, menus, music videos, product packagaing, and computer software
to be protected, a work must be
fixable in a durable medium- which it can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated
to obtain protection under the copyright act, a work must be original and fall into one of the following
1.literary works (magazines, newspaper)
2.musical works and accompanying words (jingles)
3.dramatic works and accompanying music
4.pantomimes and choreographic works
5. pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
6. motion pictures
7. sound recordings
it is not possible to copyright an
idea
copyright act specificlaly excludes copyright protection for any
Idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied
compliations of facts are or are not copyrightable
are
a compliation is a work formed by the
collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship
the key requirement for the copyrightability of a compliation is
originality
whenever the form or expression of an idea is copied,
an infringement of copyright occurs
if a substantial part of the original is reproduced,
copyright infringement has occured
an exception to liability for copyright infringement is made under the
“Fair use” doctrine
in certain circumstances, a person or organizations can reproduce copyrighted material without
paying royalties (fees paid to the copyright holder for the privilege of reproducing the copyrighted material)
in determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include
- purpose and character of use, whether such use is a commmercial nature od is for non profit education purposes
- nature of the copyrighted work
- amount and sustainability of the portion used in relaiton to the copyrighted work as a whole
- effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
provides that “the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under the copyright act, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy or phonorecord
first sale doctrine
generally copyright protection extends to those parts of a computer program that can be read by humans, such as the
highlevel language of a source code
protection also extends to the binary-language object code, which is readable only by the
computer, and to such elements as the overall structure, sequence, and organization of a program
Not everything about software is legally protected. Courts usually don’t give copyright protection to how software looks and works -
like its overall appearance, how you interact with it, pictures or videos it shows, menus, and other things you see on the screen
the law of trade secrets protects some business processes and information that are not or cannot be
protected under patent, copyright, or trademark law against appropriation by a competitor
basically information of commercial value, may include custoner lists, plans, research, and development, pricing information, marketing techniques, and production methods
Trade secrets
unlike copyright and trademark protection, protection of secrets extends both to
ideas and their expression
Under section 757 of the restatement of torts, those who disclose or use anothers trade secret without persmission are liable to that other party if
- they discovered the secret by improper means
- their disclosure or use constitutes a breach of a duty owed to the other party