Running head: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Intellectual Property Law

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Intellectual Property (IP) Law Policy

The aim of defining an IP policy is to provide support and guidance in regards to
commercial exploitation, ownership and income from IP. Seville, (2009) defines intellectual
property laws that govern rights to creations of individuals which arise under the laws of patents,
copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, unfair competition and related laws (Seville, 2009). The
intellectual property includes the rights relating to literature works, performances, broadcasts,
scientific discoveries, trademarks, industrial designs and protection against unfair competition.
Intellectual property rights (IPRs) on the other hand are the legal rights that covers the
creators of intellectual property. IPRs basically provide the creator of intellectual property
exclusive rights to their creation for a specified period of time. Intellectual property laws give
the incentives that boost innovation and creativity, and strive to ensure that the competitive
innovation is maintained on a fair grounds. The protection of IPRs contributes significantly to
technological advancement and business competitiveness.
Patents
Patents protect new and improved products and processes that have technical innovation
and have capacity for industrial application. It provides the owner exclusive right, to hinder
others from commercially making use of the invention without the necessary permission from
the owner in a particular region for a specified period.
Copyrights
Copyright provides the right to control use of certain literary, audio or visual materials such
as books, art, music and films among others.

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Trademarks
Trademarks protect a brands identity so as to maintain uniqueness and distinguish the
goods and services of one firm from those of another firm. A Trademark should be represented
inform of words, pictures or symbols.
Industrial design right
Designs normally form the appearance of a particular product, either the whole or a part,
resulting from features like texture, ornamentation, lines, colors and shape.
To determine a fair use, the IP policy requires a fact-specific analysis on the use, depending
on some factors such as: The aim and manner of the use, whether for commercial or for nonprofit
/educational use. The nature of the IP protected work, is it factual or highly creative. Extend of
the IP usage. The business impact on the usage upon the potential market for or value of the IP
protected work. The policy must address, consider and balance these factors against other factors
as part of fair use analysis.
This IP Policy is applicable to IP that is owned by individuals or any other party. It is
developed by the personnel during their specifically assigned duties, either when IP could be
expected to result from performing those duties or, at the time the IP is being created. This
applies to any IP in works which are developed by Personnel which they discover or invent in the
course of performing their duties or when utilizing company/organization assets (equipment,
supplies, facilities). It also applies to organizations sensitive information and trade secrets as well
as in relation to any work conducted for the organization including funded research programmes
(Hansen, 2010).
The IP Policy also covers other pertinent parties i.e. .non-employees involved in research
projects who must get into an agreement with their employer to observe the rules of the IP policy

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while performing their duties. IP from research or other work funded by an external body are
subject to the IP conditions that are stipulated in the agreement.
Intellectual property violation reporting procedures
Intellectual property violations are reported by calling the National Intellectual Property
Rights Coordination Center or visiting their webpage. This body investigates claims of violations
of IP. Also IPR violations can be reported by submitting an e-form online or manually to the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The form includes the following details;

Complete contact information with full name, mailing address and phone number of

client owning the IP right in question

A description of the IP work that is claimed to be infringed.
A description of the work that infringes the Intellectual property right.
Sufficient information leading to the location of the infringing work.
A declaration under penalty of perjury that the information provided is accurate and that
the work claimed to infringe is not authorized by the IP owner or the law.

Intellectual property infringement ramifications

Activities leading to infringement of IP rights may can cause both civil and criminal law
liabilities. In some instances these activities may be associated to operations made directly by the
business or in other cases it may be associated to an independent activity of a member of
personnel at work. There are incidences where the liability leads to a potential fine of up to
$50,000, and or a jail sentence of up to 15 years for counterfeiting and piracy charges and this
can affect business security and reputation, even threaten IT infrastructure and risk the safety of
personnel and consumers.
Fines and award settlements may involve repayment to the IP owner of lost revenues and
business opportunities. Intellectual property infringement ramifications may extend to statutory
penalties, payment of attorneys fees and reimbursement of all profits made by the infringer. It

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also may include seizure of infringing products as well as imposing criminal sanctions
(Denoncourt, 2012). Business organizations or individuals engaged in infringement of these IP
rights are costing the industries and the country million dollars in uncollected revenues. This is
translated to increased cost for the consumer so as to cover for the lost revenue.

Work cited
Denoncourt, J. (2012). Intellectual property law. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: New York, NY.

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Hansen, H. (2010). Intellectual property law and policy. Oxford [England]: Hart Pub.
MacQueen, H., Waelde, C., & Laurie, G. (2007). Contemporary intellectual property. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Seville, C. (2009). EU intellectual property law and policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar
Sein, M. (2001). Contemporary trends in systems development. New York: Springer Science.