BASIC RULES OF PROTECTION IN THE COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW. THE NATURE OF THE GRANTED RIGHTS IN THE FIELD OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Alin Speriusi-Vlad · SSRN Electronic Journal · 2009
Copyright generally refers to the right granted for the protection of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as ot her other works resulting from the author’s own intellectual creation. Relate d rights are those granted for the protection of performers, producers, broadc asters etc. In some laws, however, the term copyright is used to cover both t he rights of authors and some or all of the related rights. In recent years it has become usual to refer to certain categories of rights as sui generis righ ts. These are rights which may be regarded as different in nature from copyrig ht and related rights, though dealing with intellectual property in produc ts and requiring a distinct sui generis protection. The protection provided by copyright, related rights and sui generis rights is to be distinguished from that available under laws concerning patents, trade marks, industrial designs and trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property. Patents are m onopolies granted for the protection of inventions and new methods of manufacture. Patent protection depends on registration and other formalities, and is valid for a shorter period than copyright. Nevertheless, there can be a n overlap between patent and copyright protection, for instance in regard to protection of computer programs or inventions related to such programs. Manufacture of an article may infringe a patent, even when the maker did not know of the patent’s existence. Copyright of a work, however, is not inf ringed by a similar work, if the latter was created without any use of the pr e-existing work. Trade marks are marks applied to goods or services in ord er to indicate origin. There are special rules as to what may be used as a trade mark, but no considerations of artistic quality apply. Sometimes a picture or other representation used as a trade mark will itself be subject to copyright protection, when the necessary criteria for such pr otection is fulfilled. Industrial designs are generally considered to be t hose designs used in the industrial manufacture of articles, in quantity. So me industrial designs are for purely functional objects. Other industrial des igns have both functional and artistic aspects, for instance when a design fo r mass-produced metal lamps contains aspects that make the lamp attractiv e from the artistic point of view. The overlap between protection of industri al designs and copyright in artistic works is one of the most difficult area s of law in the field of intellectual property. Trade secrets are protected by the law relating to confidential information. Other forms of protection are available under laws relating to unfair competition, contracts and torti ous acts, preventing prejudice to businesses by use of unlawful means. T he unauthorised use of a