WOT IS THIS TOPIC ABOUT

soz tim no offence but jus wondered wot this law is????

That’s ok, you would be surprised at just how many people don’t know what Intellectual Property Law is about, anyway, I’ll give you the basic facts….

Intellectual Property Law is concerned with things like Copyright, Patents and Trade Marks. In a nutshell, it provides a framework for artists of all kinds, be it musicians, painters, sculptors and authors to have their work protected from being stolen or misused. For music, all creations come under the domain of copyright. The law allows a person who creates an artistic work to keep control over the things they create. If someone steals their idea, either by virtue of copying or just plain not paying for the right to use the art in question, then the artist has the ability within these laws to sue for compensation. Let’s say I write a song, and put it up on the members area of Ivery Music, and someone comes along, downloads the track, records it with their own band and releases it as if it was their own. Those people would be stealing from me. Artists put an inordinate amount of time into writing and recording their songs, and for someone to just come along and steal that work is just plain wrong. If someone did that to an artist, they would be perfectly within their rights to sue them for that theft. It is also a criminal offence to steal remember, and copyright law gives the police the ability to treat theft of copyright as if it were theft of a car, or wallet. So basically copyright law makes the intangible efforts of artists tangeable.

Trademarks, are basically signs which companies use to brand their products, i.e, to identify and distinguish their products from those of other companies – think Coca Cola / Pepsi Cola. The trade mark laws are in place to protect registered trade mark owners from people coming along and diminishing their corporate image. If you imagine someone producing a bottled drink that tasted awful, or was bad for people’s health, and it was wrongly sold under the name Coca Cola, then people who were badly affected by that product might not buy real Coca Cola branded products again, or advise their friends against buying Coke. That’s where Trade Mark law comes into place, to protect the reputation of companies with established reputations for their brands. Obviously the laws give the companies the right to sue for damages in the event that their products/reputation have been compromised in any way.

Patents relate to inventions. A successful patent application gives the inventor protection from having his invention stolen and used by others. Patent law gives the patent holder an exclusive license to produce their invention without fear of competitors stealing their ideas.

Anyway, that gives you a rough idea of what intellectual property law is about. Think copyright, trademarks and patents!

Tim

makes so much more sense now lol why didnt they just call it copyright law?