Exclusive Summary

Counterfeiting includes the unauthorized use of a protected trademark which is falsely

presented as the genuine product. It also occurs when there is an infringement of registered
trademarks. These goods are not manufactured by or on behalf of the owner of the trademark,
but are traded to ordinary consumers in a form intended to be indistinguishable from the
genuine products. In this regard, counterfeiting may therefore exist either in the physical
product itself or the trademark attached to the product or both.

1.1 What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property rights give rise to a form of property that can be dealt with just as with
any other property, and which can be assigned, mortgaged and licensed. Intellectual property
is property in a legal sense: it is something that can be owned and dealt with. Statutory forms
of intellectual property are declared to be property rights, but even common law firms have
been recognised as producing a form of property right. (David, 2012)

1.2 Purpose of Intellectual Property

The rights referred to in the WIPO Convention13 definition of intellectual property do not
exist as legal rights except as the creatures of municipal legal rules. They can be described as
proprietary in character. In Australia, the rights created by patents, registered trademarks and
registered designs are expressly designated by statute as personal property. Those rights and
copyright can be assigned or be the subject of licences or of securities or the other myriad
dealings that are possible with transmissible property. This raises the question whether the
creation of tradable rights is the ultimate purpose of all intellectual property laws. (French,
2014)

1.3 Impact on Intellectual Property

The phenomenon of unauthorized mass downloading of copyrighted content has been a

problem for legislators, courts, and film/music industries for decades. Due to the speed of the
Internet revolution, legislation has not successfully kept pace with technology. In addition to
public uncertainties regarding legal consequences of downloading music from the Internet,
4003YPCBM ACADEMIC STUDY SKILLS

there are also consumer misperceptions regarding the legal use of copyrighted material. In
fact, many consumers believe that downloading material from Internet is permitted and legal.
The prevalence of internet piracy is central to question the survival of the music industry
itself, which is faced with income stagnation, primarily due to the spread of technologies
which allow online file-sharing. (Lalovi, 2012)

1.4 Intellectual Property Rights (IP).

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency responsible for the
promotion of the protection of IP throughout the world, stresses that the IP protection system
is only worthwhile if the right-owners are capable of effectively enforcing their rights,
particularly in a world where the infringement of protected rights has accelerated to a hitherto
unprecedented extent. This means that they must be able to take action against infringers, not
only to recover the losses incurred, but also to call on the state authorities to deal with
counterfeiters to prevent further infringement. Otherwise, an IP system will have no value. In
this respect, the reasons why enforcement of IPRs is important may be classified into three
which is reinforce the meaning of law, damage caused by counterfeiting and deficiencies in
the current law relating to counterfeiting? (Mohamed, 2014)

1.5 The Need to Protect Intellectual Property

Intellectual property and the body of law developed for its protection falls into five major
classes: patents, plant breeders' rights, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Patents, or
utility patents as they are more formally known, are applied to product and process
inventions. Some countries have a lesser form of patent protection, known as the utility
model or petty patent, which provides weaker protection for more modest and typically
adaptive inventions. Another variant, often but not exclusively used in centrally planned
economies, are inventors' certificates, a form of nonexclusive patent.

Copyrights protect original materials, including original compilations of previously published

materials, from unlicensed copying. In contrast to the procedure followed for patents, the
originality of the copyrighted material is not determined prior to issuance of the copyright. In
fact, the Beme Convention requires that copyrights be issued without examination. Thus

LJMU ID: 749290

4003YPCBM ACADEMIC STUDY SKILLS

challenges to copyrights generally must be raised in court. The duration of a copyright varies,
but it typically extends for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. Copyrights may be
assigned

Trademarks are intended to protect a product's image as vested in a name (brand) or image
(logo). Customers are offered the assurance of purchasing what they intend to purchase
(Nelson, 1978). There are few limitations on trademarked words and logos other than that
they not be from a restricted list and that they not be so similar as potentially to confuse the
customer. Trademarks can endure virtually indefinitely provided they remain in use.

Trade secrets are not defined by law or subjected to specific formal requirements as are
patents and other forms of intellectual property. They are protected by physical measures of
secrecy and by restrictive contracts entered into with employees, users, and others to whom
the secrets may be revealed. Judicial interpretations of what can be protected as a trade secret
have changed from time to time and from country to country. (Siebeck, 1990)

LJMU ID: 749290

4003YPCBM ACADEMIC STUDY SKILLS

Conclusion
In the nutshell, the recording industrys value in the economy comes from providing
consumers access to great music. The value chain includes discovering talent, developing the
talent to create and record great music, and distribution of that music to consumers. The
early stages of the pipeline have remained about the same for decades. But technology has
permanently changed how music is distributed to consumers.

Recommendation
The recommendations with most significance for music were the creation of a Digital
Copyright Exchange, the establishment of a "limited private copying exception", that the UK
should support EC moves to establish a framework for cross-border licensing, that the
Government should legislate to enable the licensing of orphan works. It also recommends that
laws be relaxed to allow copyright materialto be used in parody.

LJMU ID: 749290

4003YPCBM ACADEMIC STUDY SKILLS

Reference List

David, I. B., 2012. Intellectual Property , England : Pearson Education Limited.

French, R., 2014. 'A Public Law Perspective on Intellectual Property'. Journal Of
World Intellectual Property, 17(3/4), pp. 61-80.
Lalovi, G. R. S. V. I. &. R. J., 2012. 'CONSUMER DECISION MODEL OF
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT IN EMERGING MARKETS'. Organizations &
Markets In Emerging Economies, 3(1), pp. 58-74.
Siebeck, W. E. E. R. E. L. W. &. B. C. A. P., 1990. Strengthening Protection of
Intellectual Property in Developing Countries. World Bank Discussion Papers, p.
112.

Bibliography

James Murtagh-Hopkins, 2013. UK Music. [Online]

Available at: http://www.ukmusic.org/policy/licensing-solutions/
[Accessed 16 November 2015].

LJMU ID: 749290