Introduce, explain where from and what we do Technology and Media team at TLT.
Explain summary of how the session will play out – explain that they can ask questions if they need to
As I understand that most of you already have an understanding of the concept of intellectual property, I'll just briefly to go over the different types and which types of IP you are most likely (and least likely) to come across in pervasive media projects.
No IP in an idea, IP will only come into existence when the idea is recorded in a tangible form. There are broadly 5 different IP rights and when you have the tangible form, you can think about which of the 5 it attracts. There could be more than one IP right. Also, if you are collaborating with someone else, the IP rights could be owned by more than one person, but we will go into further detail on collaboration a bit later on. List the 5, it is also possible to protect confidential information. This is something to bear in mind, particularly if you are only at the idea stage (and would have no automatic IP rights in your idea) but need to discuss the idea with third parties to take it forward. I'll just run through the types in more detail.
Copyright is the IP right most likely to attract to pervasive media. It is an unregistered right which arises automatically in a number of creative works being…. Duration – in musical, dramatic, artistic works lasts for 709 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author died. Sound recordings and broadcasts – 50 yrs from the date on which the recording was made. Moral rights – your right to be identified as the author cannot be assigned but can be waived.
The basic requirement is that it has to be capable of distinguishing goods and services. You may consider protecting the name of your product, if you've created a game, the characters and the names of characters in that game. Specific goods and services If you have created a character or product name rd parties better to register otherwise its more difficult to prevent third parties using your names/characters.
Less likely to apply to a pervasive media project – design protects the shape and appearance of articles. But if you think what you have created might attract design protection, there are two kinds: registered and unregistered.
Unregistered design right provides the same protection, but it is shorter in duration and, if you want to rely on the right to claim infringement you have to overcome the more difficult test of proving that the third party copied your design. Where you ahev a registered right, you have to show that the infringing design creates the same impression as your design on the informed user.
It is not possible in the UK to patent software or business processes and unlikely that the content and works created within pervasive media would be capable of obtaining a patent. However, if you have invented something, patents protect:
Possibly data base rights may arise in pervasive media if the project involves collecting and storing a lot of data
This is a fairly important concept, although not an IP right as such, unless the information protected attracts IP protection, if you are intending to collaborate with others on certain ideas, you should consider signing a non-disclosure agreement setting out the terms on which each party will share and keep secret the other's confidential information.
In summary of the types of IP – there are the 5 different types which protect the owner by granting the owner the exclusive right to use the work and to prevent others from using it. Essentially they are negative rights which provides scope for commercial exploitation if you want to grant others rights in your work.
Any copyright, design etc will be owned by you. If created in employment owned by the employer. You can decide whether you need to obtain any registered protection such as trade marks and registered designs and you can decide what you want to do with the work, whether you wish to use it for further developments etc. Fairly straightforward.
I think that many of you have had experience in dealing with collaboration agreements and are probably aware of the need to get written agreements in place when working with third parties.
Depending on who you are dealing with, the first step to consider is whether you need to get any kind of confidentiality agreement in place? Then, think about what each party will bring to the table and where you are hoping to take it. As well as being an important document to protect your rights, an agreement can also flush out issues which the parties hadn't considered such as if both had been considering a different market or territory. How will revenue be shared and accounted for? What rights do you need form the other party so that you can fulfill your obligations – will the right they are granting you achieve this? What rights are you granting them? Do you still want to retain the right ti use your IP in other projects simultaneously? Always advisable to retain your rights and just grant a limited licence. Once a licence has been granted the rights under it are limited to those expressly stated in the licence, so, if you want to do something with the product not envisaged, you would need to seek consent from the other parties – bearing in mind they have no obligation to grant consent. Warranties and indemnities aren't as scary as they sound – it might be that each party confirms in writing that it owns all IP in its contribution and agree to indemnify each other if as a result of a breach of this warranty, the others incur costs as a result of infringement claims.
If you want to retain rights in your product, you can grant end users the right to use your product for a fee by way of a licence. If you use a third party distributor, they may put there own licence terms in place with the end user, depeding on your arrangement with them. The App Store has its own end user terms which are non-negotiable. If you do have input into the licence granted to end users, consider the rights you are going to grant them – can they copy the product or furtehr develop it? Can they modify it or commercially exploit it? If not need to say so. How will they pay? How long will the licence last? What happens if they breach the terms of the licence? Any obligations of you the rights holder?
Rather than revenue generating, your product may be for the benefit of the community and you want to let others use the product. Again you can grant third parties licences, such as under creative commons but need to think about what you want to give away, what you want to keep and any limits on how your product can be used. Brings us on to the types of creative commons licenses.