INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW INTRODUCTION: What is Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)?

Intellectual Property Rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their Minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a Certain period of time to inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and Designs used in commerce Anything made by human intervention requires intellectual efforts and all human made Things are a result of intellectual creations. However individual persons do not own most of These creations or organizations but human race as a whole is the collective owner of these Creations. Some specific creations made by individuals / organizations are owned by them Subject to the conditions laid down by certain laws for recognizing and rewarding the intellectual Activity of the creator. Intellectual property refers to such creations. These include Inventions, Symbols, names, images; literary and artistic work. Why worry about IP? IP provides a proprietary right in intangible products of the human mind, which are also Known as knowledge goods or creations. IP is ownership of property that is distinct from real estate or personal property as These are products of human intellect or mind. Though ownership is similar, the kind of Goods are different: tangible and intangible goods Intellectual Property Rights are the legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the Industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. These are time limited right. Definition: IP is defined as an intangible form of property, as opposed to personal property or real property, which is concrete and much more easily defined. IP is the result of the creation of the brain or the mind, which is then manifested or interpreted in a form that has a physical existence and possesses exclusive property rights. Examples include images, symbols, names, designs, industrial processes and business methods used in commerce; inventions; artistic, literary and musical works and software. Intellectual property protects creations of the mind. Intellectual property is divided into three categories:

Copyrights () protect original creations, such as books, video games, movies, characters, and music. They give only the author the right to copy. Patents protect inventions, such as new pharmaceuticals and airplane designs, for a period of time. Trademarks () protect the distinctive signs or logos used to distinguish different products or services.

What is Intellectual Property (IP) law? This is the area of law that deals with and oversees the creation of intellectual property patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret laws; the protection of intellectual property rights; and the legal pursuit of those who infringe on anothers rights to his/her intellectual property. It overlaps with several other areas of law, such as patent law, copyright law, contract law, tort law, trademark law and litigation. What is IP Management? In todays knowledge economy, intellectual assets (such as technological information) are economic assets that must be effectively managed in order to unlock their commercial potential for the sustained growth of technology-related business. Legally protected intellectual assets, including intellectual property (IP), are essential for business success. In order to achieve their growth plans, businesses should have a strong IP portfolio. An effective IP management regime would have in-built incentive for cientists/innovators to engage in knowledge creation. This would lead to greater professional recognition for them. Why IPR came into picture? It is one of the components of GATT conditions which is to be implemented by all the Member countries of the GATT. India is also a member of GATT and it is an obligation for India To honor and implement the IPR components. What is covered under IPR\ IPR TOOLKIT? Broadly, intellectual property is divided into two categories: industrial property and copyright. Industrial property includes patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographic indications while copyright include creative works like novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, computer software and artistic works. 1. Patents, 2. Plant Variety Protection (PVP) 3. Geographical Indications 4. Traditional Knowledge 5. Copy Rights 6. Trade Marks 7. Trade Secrets 8. Industrial Designs 1. PATENT: A Patent is an exclusive monopoly granted by the Government to an inventor over his Invention for limited period of time. Patents protect inventions and improvements to existing Inventions. An inventor or any other person/company assigned by the inventor can obtain the patent Over his invention. A patent is obtained by the inventor or his assignee by filing an application. With the patent office in the stipulated forms as required by the Patent act of that country. A patent is granted only on that invention, which is new (Novelty), non-obvious and has Industrial applicability (Utility).

A patent can expire in the following ways: The patent has lived its full term i.e. the term specified by the patent act of the country. Generally it is 20 years from the date of filing. I.The patentee has failed to pay the renewal fee. A patent once granted by the Government has To be maintained by paying annual renewal fee. II.The validity of the patent has been successfully challenged by an opponent by filing an Opposition either with the patent office or with the courts. While not as widespread as patents, utility models are also used to protect inventions. 1911: Indian patents & designs act 1975: India joins WIPO 1995: The Indian government became a signatory to TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) after it joined the WTO in 1995 1972: Patents act (act 39 of 1970) came into force on 20th April 1972 1999: On March 26, Patents (Amendment) Act, (1999) came into force 2002: Patents (Amendment) Act 2002 came into force from 20th May 2003. The concepts of 20 Year patent term, 18 months publication, request for examination, inventive step for PatentAbility were introduced by this amendment 2005: Patents Act 1970 as amended by Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 & Patent Rules 2003 as amended by The Patent Amendment Rules, 2005 come into force. Plant Variety Protection: The plant variety protection was started in the year 1952 and the PVP Act of 1970 Plant variety rights also known as Plant breeders rights are Intellectual Property Rights granted to the breeder of a new variety of plant (or to another person or entity that can claim title in the new plant variety by, for example, agreement with the breeder or inheritance from a deceased breeder. These laws typically grant the plant breeder control of the propagating material (Including seed, cuttings, divisions, tissue culture) and harvested material (cut flowers, Fruit, foliage) of a new variety for a number of years. With these rights, the breeder can choose to become the exclusive marketer of the Variety, or to license the variety to others. Breeders can bring suit to enforce their rights and can recover damages for infringement. Plant breeders rights contain exemptions infringement, that are not recognized under patent law. The PVP gives breeders up to 25 years of exclusive control over new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually reproduced or tuber propagated plant varieties. Trade Mark Trademark means any mark used represent or identify a product or its maker. In a Market economy trademarks are most important because it is the biggest assets of a Company that really sells the products. A Trademark can be generally defined as a sign or mark that individualizes and distinguishes the goods of a given enterprise from the goods of other enterprises.

Definition of trademark: A distinctive name, symbol, motto, or design that legally identifies a company or its products and services, and sometimes prevents others from using identical or similar marks.

Industrial Design Design means any features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition Of lines or colures, industrially applied to an article or to a part, that gives aesthetic value to such article. Designs Act, 2000 deals with protection of industrial design in India. This Page gives information as to Indian Law on Designs and has full texts of Legislations, Cases and International Conventions. What is a Design: Design can be described as the totality of the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of a useful article. Manufactures of diverse products such as shoes, clothing, Consumer appliances, automobiles, furniture and computer software invest billions of dollars to develop industrial designs to make their products more attractive to consumers Geographical Indications Geographical indication is an indication that identifies a good as originating in a territory where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to
its geographical origin. The Geographical indications include the land related. It does not contain any time limit.

Copyright Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights granted by statute to the author of the works to exploit or authorize the exploitation of the copyright work, based on international norms like Berne Convention, Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT). The copyright works in which rights subsist are original Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and cinematography films and sounds recording. This page gives information as to Indian Law on Copyright and has full texts of Legislations, Cases and International Conventions. 1.5.6. Trade Secret Trade secret is a formula pattern, physical device, idea, process, compilation of information or other information that provides the owner of the information with a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and is treated in a way that can reasonably be expected to prevent the public or competitors from learning about it. The law relating to Trade Secrets/Confidential Information/Commercial Secrecy is not well develop0ed in India. There is no legislation regulating this area of law. India follows common law approach of protection based on the case laws. However, there is No decision of the Honorable Supreme Court laying down the law. The decisions of the High Court involving the issues of Trade Secret were decided based on the Copyright/ Design
protection laws also.

Ethical dilemmas faced by paralegals Paralegals are bound by many of the same ethical constraints as attorneys; therefore, the ethical dilemmas they face are similar to those faced by attorneys. However, there is one ethical dilemma paralegals face that most attorneys will never face: crossing the line from authentic paralegal duties into the unauthorized practice of law Many of the ethics rules that apply to lawyers also apply to paralegals. For example, neither an attorney nor a paralegal may ethically work on a case for a party who is adverse to an existing client. Neither an attorney nor a paralegal may divulge information that is protected by the attorney-client privilege. Neither an attorney nor a paralegal may suborn perjury - allow a witness to testify if they know that the witness is going to lie under oath. Other ethical restrictions are as applicable to paralegals as they are to lawyers. Unauthorized practice of law Paralegals face one ethical dilemma, however, that an attorney is unlikely to face: the unauthorized practice of law. Paralegals are assistants who perform routine legal work under the supervision of an attorney. In cases of unauthorized practice of law, a question arises about how closely the attorney is supervising the paralegals work. The paralegal who is most vulnerable to a charge of unauthorized practice of law is an independent paralegal who operates without being associated with any lawyer or law office. These paralegals often sell forms to consumers for routine legal processes like bankruptcy and divorce. So what happens when a customer asks the paralegal for help filling out a form? This can be a grey area under the law. A paralegal is usually safe answering questions about the form: when and where it should be filed; whether there is a filing fee; what information belongs in each field on the form. However, the paralegal cannot give fact-specific advice about the form. An example Suppose a woman comes to the independent paralegals office and asks for a divorce form also known as a petition for dissolution of marriage. The paralegal can explain that there are different forms for a divorce, depending on whether the couple has children or owns real estate together. The paralegal can then ask the customer which form she needs. What the paralegal cannot ethically do is interview the client to determine whether there are children of the marriage or whether the couple owns real property, and then tell the client which form she needs to purchase. Only licensed attorneys can make fact-specific interpretations of the law. Most of the ethical dilemmas faced by paralegals are the same dilemmas that vex their supervising attorneys. Fortunately, these paralegals can get free legal and ethical advice by asking their supervising attorney what to do about any given situation. Independent paralegals face the additional dilemma of unauthorized practice of law. Both kinds of paralegals should take ongoing ethics training throughout their career so they will recognize ethical dilemmas when they happen and get the help they need.

Cyber Law

Introduction: Cyber law is a new phenomenon having emerged much after the onset of Internet. Internet grew in a completely unplanned and unregulated manner. Even the inventors of Internet could not have really anticipated the scope and far reaching consequences of cyberspace. The growth rate of cyberspace has been enormous. Internet is growing rapidly and with the population of Internet doubling roughly every 100 days, Cyberspace is becoming the new preferred environment of the world. With the spontaneous and almost phenomenal growth of cyberspace, new and ticklish issues relating to various legal aspects of cyberspace began cropping up. In response to the absolutely complex and newly emerging legal issues relating to cyberspace, CYBERLAW or the law of Internet came into being. The growth of Cyberspace has resulted in the development of a new and highly specialized branch of law called CYBERLAWS- LAWS OF THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB. There is no one exhaustive definition of the term "Cyberlaw". However, simply put, Cyberlaw is a term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of Internet and the World Wide Web. Anything concerned with or related to, or emanating from, any legal aspects or issues concerning any activity of netizens and others, in Cyberspace comes within the ambit of Cyber law. In Simple way we can say that cyber crime is unlawful acts wherein the computer is either a tool or a target or both Cyber crimes can involve criminal activities that are traditional in nature, such as theft, fraud, forgery, defamation and mischief, all of which are subject to the Indian Penal Code. The abuse of computers has also given birth to a gamut of new age crimes that are addressed by the Information Technology Act, 2000. We can categorize Cyber crimes in two ways:-The Computer as a Target:- using a computer to attack other computers. e.g. Hacking, Virus/Worm attacks, DOS attack etc. The computer as a weapon:- using a computer to commit real world crimes. e.g. Cyber Terrorism, IPR violations, Credit card frauds, EFT frauds, Pornography etc. Cyber Crime regulated by Cyber Laws or Internet Laws. TechnicalAspects: Technological advancements have created new possibilities for criminal activity, in particular the criminal misuse of information technologies such as A. Unauthorized access & Hacking:Access means gaining entry into, instructing or communicating with the logical, arithmetical, or memory function resources of a computer, computer system or computer network. Unauthorized access would therefore mean any kind of access without the permission of either the rightful owner or the person in charge of a computer, computer system or computer network.

Every act committed towards breaking into a computer and/or network is hacking. Hackers write or use ready-made computer programs to attack the target computer. They possess the desire to destruct and they get the kick out of such destruction. Some hackers hack for personal monetary gains, such as to stealing the credit card information, transferring money from various bank accounts to their own account followed by withdrawal of money. By hacking web server taking control on another persons website called as web hijacking B. Trojan Attack:The program that act like something useful but do the things that are quiet damping . The programs of this kind are called as Trojans. The name Trojan Horse is popular. Trojans come in two parts, a Client part and a Server part. When the victim (unknowingly) runs the server on its machine, the attacker will then use the Client to connect to the Server and start using the trojan. TCP/IP protocol is the usual protocol type used for communications, but some functions of the trojans use the UDP protocol as well. C. Virus and Worm attack:A program that has capability to infect other programs and make copies of itself and spread into other programs is called virus. Programs that multiply like viruses but spread from computer to computer are called as worms. D. E-mail & IRC related crimes:1. Email spoofing: Email spoofing refers to email that appears to have been originated from one source when it was actually sent from another source. Please Read 2. Email Spamming: Email "spamming" refers to sending email to thousands and thousands of users - similar to a chain letter. 3. Sending malicious codes through email:E-mails are used to send viruses, Trojans etc through emails as an attachment or by sending a link of website which on visiting downloads malicious code. 4. Email bombing: E-mail "bombing" is characterized by abusers repeatedly sending an identical email message to a particular address. 5. Sending threatening emails 6. Defamatory emails 7. Email frauds 8. IRC related Three main ways to attack IRC are: attacks, clone attacks, and flood attacks. E. Denial of Service attacks:Flooding a computer resource with more requests than it can handle. This causes the resource to crash thereby denying access of service to authorized users.

Examples include Attempts to "flood" a network, thereby preventing legitimate network traffic. Attempts to disrupt connections between two machines, thereby preventing access to a service. Attempts to prevent a particular individual from accessing a service. Attempts to disrupt service to a specific system or person.

INNOVATIONS & INVENTIONS TRADE RELATED IPR Intellectual property as such has two branches. One is industrial property which also encompasses patent of invention and innovation, Trade and service marks, industrial design, Geographical indication, utility certificates. Before we proceed for further looking the objectives behind intellectual property rights A trade mark constitute any sign that individualizes the goods of a given enterprise and capable of distinguishing such goods from the goods of competitors. This is also sub stained by section 2 of the trade and services marks act, 1986 act No 12. Thus a trademark is commercial asset intended to be used commercially by businessman. It is considered to be a type of property, the owner of which get perpetual right to its exclusive use in relation to his good and service in terms of service mark.