April 29, 2014 | Tuesday
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an international organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, intellectual property “refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.” Paintings, photos, designs, literature, cinema and music as well as websites, furniture designs, course manuals, choreographies and computer programs are all works which may be protected by copyright.
Three widely-recognized types of intellectual properties (IP) are: patents, copyright, trademarks. Trademarks and copyrights are two of the IP types that dominate in the music industry. Some of the most frequent legal disputes in the entertainment industry are about copyrights and trademarks as well as plagiarism. However, in other times, the dispute is about ownership and control of copyrights.
Copyright protection implies that whenever a certain art work is used it should not be without authorization from its author (or its right holders) with a goal to allow an author to make a living from others’ use of the work if he or she desires so by requiring users to submit a request before use.
This area is strictly regulated by the Law passed on 30 June 1994 on copyrights and related rights (referred to as the “Copyright Law”). This regulation is quite important especially now at the brink of the digital era with unlimited access to internet and its copyright materials but also affects all of us in our daily lives, when we listen to the radio, watch television, surf online, read the newspaper, go to the cinema, photocopy an article in a magazine or copy our favorite CD.
To mark this important development various government agencies, non-government organizations, community groups and individuals observe the World Intellectual Property Day each year on April 26 with a variety of events and activities worldwide. The purpose of marking the Intellectual Property Day internationally is to increase people’s awareness and understanding of intellectual property or World IP as sometimes referred to.