Fundamentals of Intellectual Property Law
William A. Zucker, Scott J. Nathan · 2012
This chapter discusses the fundamentals of intellectual property law. Data security involves the protection of proprietary or personal data and intellectual property. The competition to acquire and retain intellectual property legally is invariably met by unethical and illegal efforts to deprive legitimate owners of their rights. It is necessary, therefore, to be fully aware of the mechanisms and procedures required to protect these rights as part of any computer security program. The chapter highlights that copyright protection does not protect “ideas” but the particular expression of the idea. Once obtained, copyright protection grants to the copyright owner the exclusive right to reproduce, to publish, to prepare derivative works, to distribute, to display, and to perform the copyrighted work. The chapter also underlines that the copyright for a work does not always belong to the person who creates it. The most frequent exceptions are works that fall under the concept of a “work for hire.” A work for hire is not owned by the creator but by the persons who hired the creator to create the work. Most often the concept applies to employees who have created a work within the scope of their employment.