Intellectual Property - Copyright: Protected IT Components

AutorProf. Dr. Isabel Hernando
Cargo del AutorIntellectual Property - Copyright: Protected IT Components

Under copyright law, any copy, reproduction, publication, broadcasting, and public distribution of protected material is unlawful unless an authorization has been obtained or a license has been granted by the owner of the exploitation rights. These underlying principles of copyright are applicable both in the 'off-line' and 'on-line' world. As a basic definition, copyright is a legal term stipulating rights given to creators for their artistic, scientific and literary works.

Protected IT Components.

  1. Databases/Multimedia Works/Compilations

    Conventional databases, on-line databases available through Telnet[3], on-line databases consisting of web pages and elements thereof, are all part of the IT content.

    Databases, as well as multimedia works consist of three layers of works that attract legal protection:

    1. Computer programs: that permit navigation and provide for the inter-operability of applications: such programs are protected by copyright.

    2. The data or content: if original, this is protected by copyright.

    3. The structure and the organization: to the extent original expression is manifest in the selection or the disposition of the contents, it is protected by copyright. The structure and organization includes, among other things, the plan, composition, form, structure, language, creation of the interactive scenario (description of sequences/design, of navigation methods, description of the groups functionality or interactivity principles) and the creation of the graphic layout (definition of the graphic interfaces/creation of standard screens), and is often collectively referred to as the 'look and feel' of the product or service.

    Protection of the structure and organization of the database does not necessarily extend to protection from reutilization of the content. Where the content is not otherwise protected by copyrights such as purely factual information in certain jurisdictions such as the United States, reuse of such content will not violate copyright laws, but depending on the method and mode of extraction may implicate other laws. By contrast, within the European Community, such content may attract protection on a so-called 'sui generis' basis that provides for protection against the removal and/or reutilization of the content contained in a commercial database. Broadly speaking, such database right can only belong to EC companies or citizens.

  2. Musical Compositions and Sound Recordings

    Musical compositions (with or without lyrics), for example, live concerts, rehearsals, specialized auditions before concerts, un-used recorded material and the elements that make up the composition such as the melody, harmony and the rhythm are, in certain circumstances, protected by copyright. The protection accorded to such...

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