Intellectual property rights - an introduction to computer law.

1. Chapter 2
Overview of Intellectual
Property Rights
Presenter: Mbise, Kaanael S.
Reg#: 2010-06-01046
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2. Introduction
 Intellectual property is the name given to
legal rights which protect creative works,
inventions and commercial goodwill.
 Basically intellectual property rights are
designed to provide remedies against those
who steal the fruits of another person’s ideas
or work. For example if a person writes a
computer program, he will be able to take
legal actions to obtain an injunction against
anyone who copies the program without his
permission.
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3. Introduction cont...
 In case of the large investment
required to finance research, design
and development in respect of
computer hardware and software,
the intellectual property rights are
of crucial important as without such
protection there would be little
incentive to invest in the
development of new products.
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4. Introduction cont...
 Intellectual property rights include:
 Copyright
 Patents
 Trade marks
 Law of confidence
 Design rights
 Passing off
 The scope of these rights differs but
sometimes overlaps and the infringement
of the intellectual property rights gives
rise to the criminalProperty
Intellectual penalties.
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5. Copyright Law
 Copyright protects works from being copied
without permission. Copyright goes beyond
mere copying, however, and extends to other
activities such as making an adaptation of the
work in question, performing or showing the
work in public, broadcasting the work and
dealing with infringing copies of the work.
 The types of works protected by copyright are
literary works which includes (computer
programs, preparatory design material for
computer programs and databases,
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6. Copyright Law cont...
dramatic, musical and artistic works, sound
recordings, films, broadcasts, cable
programmes and typographical
arrangements of published editions.
 Copyright protection has a long duration
and general yardstick being the life of the
author (creator) plus 70 years or
depending on the type of work, 50 or 70
years from the end of the year during
which the work was created or published.
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7. Copyright Law cont...
 The major attractions of copyright as a
form of protection are that it is free and
that no formalities are required, it is
automatic upon the creation of the work in
question.
 Copyright law is of vital importance to the
Computer software industry and to people
who prepare, record or transmit all sorts of
works (for example, literary works such as
books, reports, letters or musical works)
using computer technology.
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8. Copyright Law cont...
 Copyright law is governed by the
Copyright, Designs and Patterns Act 1988,
the main provisions of which came into
force on 1st August 1989, and subsequent
amendments, together with a wealth of
case law.
 Databases were protected as compilations
(being a form of literary work) until the
Copyright and Rights in database
Regulations 1997 which came into force on
1st January 1998
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9. Copyright Law cont...
Copyright in Tanzania
 Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act No.
7 of December 1999.
 Copyright and Neighbouring Rights
Regulations G.N. No. 214 A, June 2000.
 The Copyright Society of Tanzania
(COSOTA), under Ministry of Industry,
Trade and Marketing, is vested with power
to administer the Copyright Act.
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10. Patent Law
 Patent Law is mainly concerned with new
inventions such as a new type of computer
hardware, or a new process for use in
manufacture of Integrated circuits (ICs).
 For an invention to be protected by a
patent, an application must be made to the
Patent Office which is an expensive and
lengthy process but if granted, the patent
can be renewed for a total period of up to
20 years.
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11. Patent Law cont...
 The relevant statute dealing with
the patent law is the Patent Act
1977.
 To be patentable, an invention
must be novel (new), involve an
inventive step, be capable of
industrial application and not be
excluded.
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12. Patent Law cont...
Patents in Tanzania
 The Patents Act No. 1 of 1987 as amended
by Acts Nos. 13 and 18 of 1991.
 The Patents Regulations G.N. 190 of 1994.
 Business Registrations and Licensing
Agency (BRELA), under the Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Marketing, is vested
with power to administer the patents Act.
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13. The law of Confidence
 The law of confidence protects information. The
difference with Copyright and patent law, is that
the law of confidence is not defined by statute
and derives almost entirely from case law.
 The scope of this branch of intellectual property
is considerable and protects trade secrets,
business know how, and information such as list
of clients and contracts, information of a
personal nature and even ideas which have not
been yet been expressed in a tangible form
(e.g., an idea for a new computer program).
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14. The law of Confidence cont...
 The contents of many databases
are protected by the law of
confidence.
 However the major limitation is that
the information concerned must be
of a confidential nature and the
effective nature of the law of
confidence is largely or completely
destroyed if the information
concerned fall into the public.
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15. The law of Confidence cont...
 The law of confidence can be a useful
supplement to copyright and patent law
as it can protect ideas before they are
sufficiently developed to attract
copyright protection or to enable an
application for a patent to be made.
 Law of confidence is very flexible and
has proved capable of taking new
technological development in its stride.
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16. The Law Relating to Designs
 In this case there are two types of
right: registered design and design
right which is not registrable.
 Registered is available for features of
articles which appeal to the eye while
design right is intended to protect any
aspect of the shape or configuration of
articles without any requirement for
visual attractiveness.
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17. The Law Relating to Designs cont...
 The durations of the rights are different,
being 25 years for registered designs
and a maximum of 15 years for design
right (but limited to 10 years of
commercial exploitation).
 The appropriate statutes are the
Registered Design Act 1949 (as
amended ) and Part III of the Copyright,
Design and Patents Act 1988.
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18. The Law Relating to Designs cont...
Industrial Designs in Tanzania
 (Protection) Ordinance of 1936, cap.
219, Ord. 1936 No. 2 (F) PI 1938, 46.
 In the process of drafting new
Industrial Designs Legislation for
2002.
 Also administered by BRELA
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19. Trade mark Law
 Trade marks are often in the form of a name
or a symbol and registration is provided for by
the trade Marks Act 1994. Marks may be
registered in respect of goods or services.
 To be registrable, the mark must be
distinctive and capable of being represented
graphically.
 Trade marks are very important as they
become associated with successful products
and purchasers normally buy or order goods
or services by reference to the mark.
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20. Trade mark Law cont...
 The main purpose of trade mark law is
to serve as an indicator of trade origin.
Thus business goodwill and reputation
is protected but this has a secondary
effect of also protecting the buying
public from deceptive practices.
 In computer technology the trade mark
law also deals with domain name
disputes, and infringement or dilution of
trademarks on Internet.
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21. Trade mark Law cont...
Trade mark Law in Tanzania
 Trade and Service Marks Act No. 12 of 1986.
 Trade and Service Marks Regulations G.N. 40
of March 2000.
 Business Registrations and Licensing Agency
(BRELA), under the Ministry of Industry, Trade
and Marketing, is vested with power to
administer the trade marks Act.
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22. The Law of Passing off
 A related area of law to trade mark is
passing off. This derives from the common
law and gives a right of action against
anyone who passes off his goods or
services as being those of someone else.
 If a trader uses a particular name or mark
or has particularly unusual method of doing
business, he can obtain legal redress
against others who use similar names or
marks or business methods,
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23. The Law of Passing off cont...
especially if there is a serious possibility
that the buying public will be deceived
and the trader's business goodwill
damaged as a result.
 The law of passing off is independent of
trade mark law and will often be useful
where a mark has not been registered
as a trade mark.
 For the law of passing off to be
effective, the trader concerned must
have established a goodwill associated
with the name or mark or business
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24. The Law of Passing off cont...
 In some respects, the law of
passing off is wider than the trade
mark law where to be registrable,
the mark must conform to the
requirements of the Trade Marks
Act 1994.
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25. Semiconductor Regulations
 Integrated circuits, commonly called 'chips'
or 'silicon chips' are protected by virtue of
the Design Right (Semiconductor)
Regulations 1989 which apply a modified
version of the design right to
semiconductors.
 Semiconductors are given 15 years
maximum protection (15 years from
creation or 10 years from commercial
exploitation).
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26. References
Brainbridge, D. (2000). Introduction to computer law (4th Ed.). Pearson Education Limited:
Harlow Essex.
The Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 1999. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from
http://www.parliament.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/7-1999.pdf
The Patents Act 1987. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from
http://www.parliament.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/1-1987.pdf
The Trade and Service Marks Act 1986. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from
http://www.parliament.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/12-1986.pdf.
Wangwe, S.M., et al. (n.d). Case study on institutional capacity in intellectual property
policy, administration and enforcement. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from
http://www.iprcommission.org/papers/text/study_papers/sp9_Tanzania_case_study.txt
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