Intellectual Property Management in Cyberspace

The continuous growth in technology has brought a lot of changes on how things are done. In the search for fast accessibility and ease, mankind has created a new means of connecting things in a so-called web - the Internet. The Internet also known as the cyberspace is a place where everything is coded digitally. From the basic binary codes emerge texts, images, videos, music and other digital media that appear on the computer monitor. Since the Internet was established, many industries have started to transact through the web because it reaches millions of people across the globe. Information can be availed at a low or even no cost at all. Ads and digital media transactions can easily be done.

However, since everything is coded, replications are easily forged. Copies can be indiscriminately produced. Digital media copies are perfect clones of the original thus it is difficult to distinguish which is the original and which is the copy. To protect original authors and regular consumers from the threat of web piracy, several laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed.

The DMCA serves as an intellectual property management regulation for digital media and other things traded on the Internet. This law implements two treaties made by the World Intellectual Property Organization also known as WIPO. It penalizes the creation and distribution of technology, gadgets, devices or services that intends to evade procedures such as Digital Rights Management that regulates access to works under copyright. It also prohibits preventing of access control, may there be an infringement or none. The DMCA gives emphases on the penalties for copyright encroachments in the internet.

Digital copyright laws enfold a vast range of people's ingenuity. Many if not all of the unique content that feed e-commerce is under its protection. This covers literary creations and works of art that includes different forms of writings like manuals, educational materials, articles, blogs, e-books and others. It also protects electronic products such as software, computer programs, music, pictures, videos and the like. Basically, this law doesn't only look after the rights of the creators or producers. It also guards the rights of the consumers which are subject to fraud. An innocent buyer may be encouraged to buy pirated products which may in time be restricted for access due to infringement. In such a case the consumer won't be able to get his money back.

Internet users should know intellectual property management laws, may he be a producer or a consumer to protect them from being victims of IP infringements. Cyberspace is as vast as the universe and still continues to expand. As users we should be aware of the pros and cons of its use. It makes our lives faster and easier but sometimes a wrong move can plunge us into hot waters if we do not know what the law allows and prohibits.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

The Risk of Inappropriate Use of Social Media: Fair Dismissal for Inappropriate Comments on Facebook

The law

Unfair dismissal

Under English law, employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed. It is for the employer to establish that the reason for dismissal is a potentially fair reason. An employer must also follow a fair procedure for a dismissal to be fair. To establish fairness in a conduct dismissal case, an employer must be able to establish that, at the time of dismissal:

• It believed the employee to be guilty of misconduct.

• It had reasonable grounds for believing that the employee was guilty of that misconduct.

• It had carried out as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances.

Whether an employer acted reasonably must be assessed objectively: Did the employer's decision to dismiss fall within the range of reasonable responses that a reasonable employer in those circumstances and in that business might have adopted? A tribunal must not substitute its view for that of the employer.

Right to freedom of expression

The fundamental rights of the population of European member states are protected by the European Convention on Human Righs (the Convention). These rights include the right to freedom of expression (Article 10(1)).

The right to freedom of expression "may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary".

The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) gives effect to most (but not all) Convention rights and makes them enforceable in the UK courts. So far as it is possible to do so, primary and subordinate legislation must be interpreted and given effect to in a way that is compatible with the Convention rights (section 3, HRA 1998). It is also unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that is incompatible with a Convention right (section 6(1), HRA 1998).

In the latest Facebook case, the tribunal considered whether a manager of a pub had been fairly dismissed after posting negative comments about customers on her Facebook page and whether her right to freedom of expression had been infringed.

Decision

The tribunal dismissed her claim.

The tribunal held that the employer conducted a reasonable investigation into allegations of gross misconduct namely the claimant entering into a conversation on Facebook. The conversation clearly concerned work and culminated in views being exchanged that could be read by a number of people, including the customers themselves. The sanction of dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses available to a reasonable employer

The tribunal found that although the employee had a right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention, the action taken by the employer was justified in view of the risk of damage to its reputation.

The tribunal acknowledged that the customers' behaviour was abusive and shocking. However, the Facebook entries took place over a lengthy period of time, after the situation had calmed down and she was working as normal. The employee knew that she could use a "hotline" to seek the advice of an experienced manager or, if she felt distressed, to ask permission to leave work early.

Conclusions

For employers, this case highlights the importance, and usefulness, of having a properly drafted policy regarding the use of social media. The lesson for employees is not to use Facebook or similar media as a way of venting frustration about work.

All articles are for general purposes and guidance only and do not constitute legal or professional advice.

Copyright 2010 Anassutzi & Co Limited. All rights reserved. Information may be shared or reproduced only if accompanied by the author's name and bio.

For more information email maria@anassutzi.com

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Intellectual Property Law - Semiconductor Sector and International Economic Espionage

Perhaps, you are in the know when it comes to intellectual property law and patent law in the semiconductor industry. If so, then you realize all the ways intellectual property can be torn from your grasp. Each year there are a huge number of very high-profile cases of patent piracy, employees breaking non-compete agreements, and outright espionage. Andy Grove, of Intel once wrote a book "Only the Paranoid Survive" and well when it comes to intellectual property there hangs 100s of millions of dollars in the balance - so, I'd say he's right on the money.

There is a very good book I'd like to recommend to you which will explain exactly what is going on and has been going on in the Semiconductor Sector for years now. This is a book I do own, and have personally sat down with the author and barraged him with questions about the industry. He knows his stuff, so I bought his book and got my autographed copy. The name of the book is:

"Economic Espionage - Checkmate" by Steve Manning, Published by Sneakaboard Press, Green Valley, AZ, (2010), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-0-9844662-3-8.

The author Steve Manning is the founder of Pioneer Semiconductor Company, which is a NASDAQ traded public company. Steve also worked as a consultant at International Technical Marketing. He has devoted himself to a lifetime of learning, and also teaches a class at UCR University of California at Riverside's Palm Desert, CA campus. Steve started out as a US Navy Electronics Technician. Quite frankly to put it bluntly; Steve knows his stuff.

Manning does a brilliant job humanizing, personifying, and personalizing the back door deals of corporate and industrial espionage that goes on behind the scenes. The United States and our greatest creative geniuses, entrepreneurial companies, and most technologically advanced corporations are being ripped off blind. This has been going on for nearly five decades in the semiconductor sector, and it goes on still today.

Indeed, I find Steve's book a wake-up call within a fictional work of intrigue, with spies, good guys, and bad guys. Our national treasures of intellectual property are being stolen nearly as fast as we can create them; and our patent process is making it difficult to find justice, and the cases take far too long to try in court. Meanwhile, the next generation or several others are available making the enter rendering of any potential decision worth less than the paper the judgment was written on.

The competition for innovation in Silicon Valley is like no other, and folks come to the US and homestead in Silicon Valley with ill-intent from the get go, with their job to steal intellectual property and make millions, if not hundreds of millions in the process. America must not be naïve. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to peak behind the veil of secrecy in the world of the semiconductor sector or microchip industry. "Double Thumbs Up, Steve Manning, Job Well Done!" Please consider all this.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Licensing Contracts Boot Camp, Chapter 2: Are You Ready to License Something As a Licensor?

You may be thinking: this licensing stuff sounds complicated, so it's not for me. Or that you really don't have any anything to license. Or that licensing something from someone else is not for you.

I am sorry to break it to you, but you're wrong (with all due respect as my fellow attorneys say). I believe that everyone, whether they have an education or not, is able to license something, as the licensor or licensee. Everyone possesses special knowledge of one sort or another than another person could want or use. Or anyone with good business instincts can build a business around someone else's good ideas. Let's look at some examples.

1. You are a backyard part-time automobile mechanic. You do it as a hobby. Through years of working at it, you have found a technique which makes oil changes a lot easier. It could be a special wrench that you designed, or a special pan, or a method of disposing of the oil or cleaning the driveway after the oil change. Do you not think you could interest someone in your know-how? It could a manufacturer interested in turning your know-how into a mass-market product. Or a distributor? Or a retailer carrying oil cleaning products?. Or a nation-wide oil change company? You may be on to something and you do not even know it. A patent application could also be possible.

2. You are a stay-at-home mother and an expert cook. You have crafted a series of healthy recipes that make your children eat vegetables. Your plan is similar to the authors who are marketing books on hiding vegetables in food but your approach is different. It even makes the food tastier. So you could write a manuscript and license it out to a publishing house so that they make a book out of it. If you are not a writer, no problem. You could work with a "ghost-writer" or co-write the book with someone who can write and treat it as a joint licensing project.

3. You are a science student. In the course of your lab studies you encountered a potential new application to reduce greenhouse emitting gases. Once again, this is something that could be licensed, presumably in this case after having filed a patent application.

The moral of this story is that things you do in everyday life could be the subject of licensing possibilities. Just be aware of this, and think about it as you conduct your daily life. These could open up your life to new possibilities if you understood the basics of how licensing works.

People do not move forward with their ideas because they get overwhelmed,get scared or fear the money costs including legal fees. The first step of going forward is losing the fear with know-how.

In the next chapter, I will show you how you can license something from someone else.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Planning Refusal Appeals Can Be Tricky and Require Experienced Solicitors

Getting planning permissions can be a really difficult job. Anyone who has a vested interest in your plans being stalled can raise an objection and your proposal might land into troubled waters. It is, hence, that you require experienced and skilled planning permission solicitors. These solicitors know the kind of objections that can be raised and have ways in which this could be tackled.

If your plans have been refused, the authorities are required to send you a written note of the reasons for the same. Therefore, you can have complete information about the reason why your plans have been rejected. If you believe that such rejection is not fair or valid, you can raise a planning refusal appeal.

There are certain guidelines that need to be filed at the time of filing planning refusal appeals. The first is the time frame in which the appeal has to be launched. If it is a householder appeal, the time frame with you, to submit the appeal, is 12 weeks. This is a shortened timeline which only applies to householder appeals. The time period applies from the date when the plan has been rejected.

For all the other forms of appeals, 6 months is the period in which the appeal can be filed. Before the appeal has been submitted, you are always encouraged to contact your Case Officer. This would make sense because it is the same officer who has rejected your plan and s / he would have more information to offer to you. Directly contacting the case officer is possible. The two parties can discuss the matter and see if the matter can be settled through negotiation. If the result is positive, you can file a fresh appeal, as per the negotiation, and that has far higher chances of it being accepted. On the other hand, if you stay unconvinced with what is being offered, you can go ahead and submit the appeal.

Planning refusal appeals are handled by planning inspectorate. This is an independent government body and is expected to look into the matter with substantial detail. You can either make the appeal online or send the same by post. Once the appeal has been lodged, you can continuously track its progress on the internet.

Such planning refusal appeals are not just confined to complete refusal of the plan. Even if there is a condition which has been laid for the plan, you can decide to contest that and submit an appeal against the decision.

Therefore, in the first place; it is important to be in touch with reputed planning permission solicitors. These are the ones who ensure that your plans get the necessary permissions. In case there is any rejection that happens, you can always fall back on the option of refusal appeals.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Powering the People by Protections Through Proper Law

There are certain things in life which require expert guidance and assistance from able, experienced and educated people. In this connection, a person cannot take all decisions just by simply approaching a wrong person for any right decision which will eventually land him in great trouble. Such a situation sometimes arises for people who are engaged in activities namely; writing of books, law journals, medical journals, books and periodicals meant for engineering studies and many other academic subjects. These are all the outcome of expert and experienced works done through years' of experience and nobody can deny the fact that the materials available in such kinds of books and periodicals are more valuable than any other things like gold, silver etc. In order to protect such items from miscreants, people have no other way except to get and seek the assistance through intellectual property attorney who are well experienced in the field and they can always do their best for protecting the rights of the owner at all times.

When it comes to any firm or an establishment, it can have a large number of assets classified into fixed assets, current assets. Again they may be also having assets in the form of tangible assets and intangible assets and the following are considered to be the intangible assets namely; copy rights, patents, miscellaneous expenditure etc. While the contents available in any book or periodical or journal is protected by way of copy right act, any item or special kind of property produced is subject to patent law and whereas a copyright attorney is in a position to safeguard the interests of any writer or publisher for the contents and materials in his publication, the attorney who is experienced can very well help and assist in protecting the interests of people when it comes to safeguard the manufactured item through patent law.Of course nowadays, in cities and towns throughout the world, taking into consideration the hardships faced by people who are working in different walks of life able and educated attorneys who are experienced in practicing law in various modules like patent law, copyright law, laws relating to trademarks and many more and the intellectual property attorney working in such establishments is found to be helpful in solving the various problems at once so that their clients are well protected. Similarly the copyright attorney who is skilled in the field is able to provide the necessary assistance at any point of time to his clients.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue