Intellectual Property

(IP)
KT44102/3
Ethics and Law in ICT
Sem 1: 2022/2023
7/11/2022
 Content

• Introduction
• IP Protection
• Fair Use
• IP: Key Issues
 Introduction

• Value of intellectual properties much greater than

value of media
▪ Creating first copy is costly
▪ Duplicates cost almost nothing
• Illegal copying pervasive
▪ Internet allows copies to spread quickly and widely
 Introduction : Definition

• Term used to describe works of the mind

▪ Distinct and “owned” or created by a person/group
• Intellectual property: any unique product of the
human intellect that has commercial value
▪ Books, songs, movies
▪ Paintings, drawings
▪ Inventions, chemical formulas, computer programs
• Intellectual property ≠ physical manifestation
 Introduction: Property Right

• People have a right…

▪ to property in their own person
▪ to their own labor
▪ to things which they remove from Nature through their labor
• As long as…
▪ nobody claims more property than they can use
▪ after someone removes something from common state, there
is plenty left over
 Introduction: Property Right
Making a Belt Buckle Writing a Play

Mine metal Mine the words (language)

Smelt the metal down Smelt /turn the words into

prose/style (scripting)

Cast the metal to belt buckle Cast/ turn them into a

complete play (acting)
 Introduction :Analogy Is
Imperfect (Issue)

• If Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare simultaneously

write down Hamlet, who owns it?
• If Ben “steals” the play from Will, both have it
• These paradoxes weaken the argument for a natural
right to intellectual property
 IP Protection : Why

• Some people are altruistic; some are not

• Allure of wealth can be an incentive for speculative
work
• Giving creators rights to their inventions stimulates
creativity
• Society benefits most when inventions in public
domain
• Compromise by giving authors and inventors rights for
a limited time.
 IP: Tread Secret

• Trade secret
▪ Business information
▪ Represents something of economic value
▪ Required an effort/cost to develop
▪ Some degree of uniqueness/novelty
▪ Generally unknown to public
▪ Kept confidential
 IP: Tread Secret

• Confidential piece of intellectual

property that gives company a
competitive advantage
• Never expires
• Not appropriate for all intellectual
properties
• Reverse engineering allowed
• May be compromised when employees
leave firm (Employees are the greatest
threat to trade secrets)
 IP: Trade/Service Mark

• Any sign (Presented graphically) capable of

distinguishing goods/services.
▪ Sign : e.g., any letter, word, name signature, shape… and any
combinations of thereof.
▪ Collective Mark: A proprietor of the collective mark from
those of other undertakings
▪ Certification Mark: Be used are certified by proprietor of the
mark in respect of origin, material, mode of manufacture of
goods or performance of services, quality, accuracy or other
characteristics
 IP: Trade/Service Mark

• Non- registrable trade mark

▪ Prohibited marks – to confuse/deceive the
public/contrary to law
▪ Scandalous of Offensive matter – not be entitled to
protection in any court of law
▪ Prejudicial to the interest/security of the nation -
Registrar bears the responsibility of determining the
trade mark, whether it might be prejudicial to the interest
or security of the nation. It may be that a mark contains
an inflammatory statement or words
 IP: Trade Mark (The need)

• Origin – helps to identify the source and those linked

for the products and services trade in the market
• Choice – assists consumers to choose goods and
services with ease
• Quality – Consumers define a certain trade mark for its
known quality
• Marketing – significant role in promoting (branding)
• Economic – Recognized trade mark is a valuable asset.
Trade marks may be licensed or franchised
 IP: Trade Mark

• Exclusive Right
▪ To use the marks in trading
▪ To take legal action for infringement
▪ To take civil action/lodges complains
• Legal evidence
▪ Legal evidence – the registration certificate

• Duration : valid for 10 year (renewed)

 IP: Copyright

Please refer to PPT: Special Topic – Malaysia

cyberlaw (Copy right part)
Key concept: an idea cannot be copyrighted, but the
expression of an idea can be
 IP: Patent

• Definition: an exclusive right

granted for an invention,
which is a product or a
process that provides a new
way of doing something, or
offers a new technical
solution to a problem. (A
public document)
 IP: Patent

• Patentable Inventions
▪ New (has not been publicity disclosed in any form)
▪ Involve an inventive step (must not be obvious to someone with
knowledge and experience in the technological field of the invention)
▪ Industrial applicable (Can be mass produced)
• Non-Patentable Inventions
▪ Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods
▪ Plant/animal or biological process for plan/animal or any related thereof
▪ Scheme, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental
acts or playing games
▪ Methods for treatment of human/animal
 IP: Patent

• Important of patent registration

▪ To exploit the patented invention
▪ To assign/transmit the patent
▪ To conclude license contracts
• Duration of patent
▪ 20 years from the date of filing
 IP: Industrial Design

• Generally – features of shape, configuration, patent of ornament

applied to an article by any industrial process which the
finished article appeal to the eye and are judged by the eye.
▪ May consist of three-dimensional features or two-dimensional features
▪ Exclude:
• A method/principle of construction
• Depend upon the appearance of another article which forms an integral part
of the article
• It differs only in immaterial details/features
• The features of that article are dictated solely by function
 IP: Industrial Design

• Importance of industrial design registration

▪ Has the exclusive right to make, import, sell or hire out
any article to which the design has been applied
• Duration of protection – 5 years from the date of
filing and extendable for a further 4 consecutive
term, and the maximum protection period is 25
years.
 IP: Others

• IC Layout Designs
▪ A layout-design of an integrated circuit is the three-
dimensional disposition of the elements of an integrated
circuit and some or all of the interconnections of the
integrated circuit or such three-dimensional disposition
prepared for an integrated circuit intended for manufacture
• Geographical Indication
▪ A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products
that have a specific geographical origin and possess
qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin
 Fair Use

• Sometimes legal to reproduce a copyrighted work

without permission
• Fulfill the condition four factors
• Purpose and character of use
• Nature of work
• Amount of work being copied
• Affect on market for work
• Must satisfied requirement >2 factors.
 Write Your Own Note
Factor For/Support Against
1. Purpose and
character of use

2. Nature of work
3. Amount of work
being copied

4. Affect on market
for work
 IP: Key Issues

• Plagiarism
• Reverse engineering
• Open Source code
• Competitive intelligence
• Trademark infringement
• Cybersquatting
 Key Issues: Plagiarism

• Stealing someone’s ideas or words and passing then off

as one’s own
• Why happen:
▪ Do not understand what constitutes plagiarism
▪ Believe that all electronic content is in the public domain
• Avoid/combat:
▪ Plagiarism detection system (check your work first) – Turnitin
▪ Awareness : students – the need to cite sources
▪ Punishment
 Key Issues: Reverse
Engineering
• Process of taking something apart in order to understand it, build a copy
of it, and improve it.
• Applied to computer (hardware & Software). Eg:
▪ Compiler – converts computer program statements expressed in source language to
machine learning
▪ Convert a program code to a high-level design
• Aim : to enable interoperability
• Software license agreements forbid reverse engineering
• Ethics of using reverse engineering are debated:
▪ Fair use – useful function/interoperability
▪ Can uncover design that someone else has developed at great cost and taken care
to protect.
 Key Issues: Open Source Code
• Program source code made available for use or modification
• Basic premise
▪ Many programmers can help software improve
▪ Can be adapted to meet new needs
▪ Bug rapidly identified and fixed
▪ High reliability
• Benefit
▪ New version of program appear more frequently
▪ Eliminates tension between obeying law and helping others
▪ Programs belong to entire community
▪ Shift focus from manufacturing to service
• Critique
▪ Without critical mass of developers, quality can be poor
▪ Without “owner” incompatible version may arise
▪ Relatively week graphical user interface
▪ Poor mechanism for stimulating innovation (no companies will spend billions on a new programs)
 Competitive Intelligence

• Gathering of legally obtainable information

▪ To help a company gain an advantage over rivals
• Often integrated into a company’s strategic plans and
decision making
• Not the same as industrial espionage, which uses
illegal means to obtain business information not
available to the general public
• Without proper management safeguards, it can cross
over to industrial espionage
 Trade mark Infringement

• Trademark is logo, package design, phrase, sound, or

word that enables consumer to differentiate one
company’s product from another’s
• Trademark owner can prevent others from using the same
mark or a confusingly similar mark on a product’s label
• Organizations frequently sue one another over the use of
a trademark in a Web site or domain name
• Nominative fair use is defense often employed by
defendant in trademark infringement case
 Cybersquatting

• Cybersquatters
▪ Register domain names for famous trademarks or
company names
▪ Hope the trademark’s owner will buy the domain name
for a large sum of money
• To curb cybersquatting, register all possible
domain names
▪ .org, .com, .info
 Exercise

A new unique pencil holder design

State the IP: Industrial Design

Description of IP : features of shape, configuration, patent of
ornament applied to an article by any industrial process which
the finished article appeal to the eye and are judged by the eye.
Argument : A unique design can be referred to feature of shape
as mention in Industrial design. This unique design applied to an
article (which is pencil holder) that appeal to the eye.
 QT/E1:

• Explain the appropriate intellectual property

protection for the following situation: (No
repetition intellectual property protection is
allowed)
i. Inspired by the use of F words of Facebook, Nana
modified one word to branding her future chat
application
ii. A new invention of rope skipping holder to capture its
function, comfortable grip and reading blood pressure
The End