Intellectual Property Rights for Engineers (2nd Edition)
The book explains the general principles behind the law protecting innovation, quoting cases from the engineering domain in order to clarify legal issues.
Inspec keywords: copy protection; industrial property
Other keywords: confidential information; licensing; design rights; unfair competition; engineers; copyright; IPR management; litigation; intellectual property rights; trade marks; patents
Subjects: Legal aspects
The aim of this book is to show that the relevant law is not as difficult as is sometimes imagined, certainly in its general application. The minutiae can be left to the legal professionals who love to analyse the fine detail. The knowledge of the overall principles an engineer needs in order to use intellectual property (IP) law need not be deep, and can even be limited to a recognition of when to seek legal advice. This book goes further than that step, although it is far from being a legal text book. It is written on the basis that engineers generally like to know the reason for doing something. It tries to explain the general principles of the law protecting innovation, without going into great detail or giving all the exceptions to a general rule. It quotes the law and legal cases only if the author thinks this will help to make a point clear. The book therefore gives only an outline and general guidance, and expert advice is still essential in many cases.
Every engineer reading this book is a copyright owner and even' engineering company also owns copyright. The reason is that this particular legal right applies automatically to an immense range of material. Copyright is associated with every literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, to sound recordings, films, broadcasts and cable programmes. The implications for the engineer are clear for the items in the second part of the list, but the definition of 'literary work' is sufficiently broad to cover engineering reports and specifications, and computer software; engineering drawings are classified as 'artistic works'. The legal right comes into effect automatically, there is no need to register it or take any action there is nowhere in the UK that copyright can be registered. Copyright does not protect an idea or a concept, it protects the way in which the idea is expressed, the precise words or the actual drawing. There is no test for literary or artistic merit but the work must be originall it must be created by the engineer and not copied from something else, and the creator must have contributed skill or labour.
The following sections are included: introduction; design right; registered designs; TRIPS and industrial designs; community design right and registered designs; topography rights; overlap among registered designs, design right and copyright; and summary of rights in designs.
In this chapter, patents are discussed. A new article, machine, material or process can be patented, provided a patent application is filed before the invention has been disclosed in any way. A full description of the invention and a definition must be included, forming one or more patent claims. A search is made to check that the invention is new and not obvious, that is, not too similar to previously available information. If the invention meets the legal requirements, a patent is granted which can last for up to 20 years provided annual renewal fees are paid. The owner can stop any third party from doing any act or making any thing which is covered by the wording of any patent claim.
Many readers would have been asked at some time in their professional lives to sign a confidentiality agreement. This often happens when visiting another company's development facilities. All engineering companies have information that they would not like to fall into the hands of a competitor, and use of confidentiality agreements is one way of protecting it. What readers may not realise is that even without signing an agreement they must keep certain types of information confidential. This applies particularly strongly to employed engineers, who have significant obligations to their employers. This chapter describes those obligations, and sets out the background for protecting valuable information. The scope of the chapter is limited to engineering information in a commercial context. It does not consider government secrets, defence security, or literary or personal confidences.
The aim of a trade mark is to encourage purchasers to buy your company's product or your company's service by using the mark when they place an order It follows that trade marks should be easy to remember and sufficiently different from marks used by competitors to avoid confusion. Trade marks are most important for consumer goods or services supplied to the public, but they can also be used for high-technology products or in heavy engineering. This chapter describes briefly the principles and. it is hoped, the benefits of good trade marks for engineering businesses. In the UK. trade marks need not be registered, but there are many advantages in having a registration, so this chapter considers first the requirements of registrability. The principles are sensible ones, so they should be used when selecting a trade mark even if there is no plan to register it.
This chapter presents ownership of intellectual property rights and rights of employees. If an employed engineer makes an especially successful invention there is a right to a reward from the employer in certain circumstances. If any material protected by copyright, design right, registered design or topography right is created by an employee as part of his or her normal work, the employer owns the legal rights. For patentable inventions, the employer owns rights in an invention only if the employee's job is of the type in which inventions are likely to be made. All other inventions belong to the employee. If a design right or registered design is created under a contract, the company paying for the work automaticay owns the rights, but not the associated copy right. The chapter applies only to engineers employed in the UK, or working abroad but attached in some way to a place of business in the UK.
Intellectual property rights (IPRs) grant exclusive rights with limited exceptions. This is generally intended to incentivise and reward the investment in creating such properties, yet not restrict the operation of society nor hamper its economic progress. For patents, the exclusive rights are granted in return for public disclosure of the invention. For copyrights, there are fair dealing allowances for private and non commercial study. For design rights, no protection exists in the parts that interconnect with other parts. Examples exist for other IPRs. In maintaining this balance, economic competition is assured. However, there remain avenues for abuse that can distort competition. For example, a patent owner might hold a bundle of essential patents in a field of technology, yet refuse to grant licences on reasonable teπns, thus stifling innovation. Elsewhere, a trade mark owning company might use its power as a well-known and successful franchisor to include non-essential conditions in a licensing agreement that allow it to control the supply of goods. In these cases, legitimate competitors are unfairly disadvantaged, and the incumbent monopolist is able to maintain its position with greater ease.
An intellectual property (IP) licence is effectively a promise not to sue for infringement of an intellectual property right (IPR). If litigation occurs, it is frequently settled by an alleged or proven infringer taking a licence. Payments of damages in litigation are often set on the basis of a notional royalty. It is therefore appropriate to consider the two topics in a single chapter.
When the first edition of this book was published in 1994, the term 'IPRs' (intellectual property rights) was becoming generally known, partly by reason of the high profile of IPRs in the Uruguay Round of GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which was finally agreed in 1995; familiarity was improving but understanding was by no means widespread. With this edition, the term IPRs is widely seen in the general press, although only the heavyweight end makes any effort to understand the principles, and even journalists in the quality press tend to write about 'patenting your trade mark'. The terms 'knowledge society' and 'knowledge assets' are fashionable in articles on management, and of course IPRs are a major knowledge asset, with skilled staff being another.
