Intellectual+Property

= **Intellectual Property** =
 * By Chirag 12JM**


 * "Intellectual Property includes ideas, discoveries, writings, works of art, software, and collections/presentations of data. Copyright, trademarks and patents exist to protect intellectual property, however the easy and accurate duplication methods made available through IT can undermine such protection."**

**What Is Intellectual Property & Why Is It Important?**

Well, the term **Intellectual Property** refers to original creations of the mind, such as music, or works of art, for which a set of **exclusive rights** are recognised, basically meaning that you own it. Under intellectual property law, owners/creators are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of assets, such as softwares or writings. The law gives the designer or creator of an idea, the power to protect it from being copied or used by other people.

There are many types of intellectual property rights, but the main ones include: **Patents**, **Copyrights**, and **Trademarks**
 * Patents ||< A patent protect useful processes, machines, and articles of manufacture. It also guards the unauthorised use of new, original, and ornamental designs for articles of manufacture. So basically, any part or design of a product, such as the look of a touch screen phone (or even its characteristics) are protected by a patent. ||
 * Copyrights || A copyright protects works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been expressed. Copyrights last for the period of the author's lifetime, plus a period of 50 years. Video games such as Call Of Duty, musical recordings of The Beatles, and a wide range of novels are all examples of works that are copyrighted. ||
 * Trademarks || Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colours that are used to distinguish goods and services. Examples of trademarks are the McDonalds logo, the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle, or the iconic Apple logo. Unlike patents however, trademarks can be renewd forever as long as they are being used in business. ||

**What Is The Social & Ethical Significance Of It?**

The protection of intellectual property is essentially a moral issue, as the human mind itself is the source of all the creativity that inspires ideas. A prime example of one of the moral & ethical issues involving intellectual property is illegal music downloading, and more specifically, the "Case of Napster."

What began in 1999 as an idea by Sean Parker, proceeded to redefine the Internet, the music industry and the way we all think about **intellectual property**. A P2P network, that allowed users to download and stream music online, quickly became one of the most popular websites on the internet. Great for everyone right? Wrong.

The problem that the music industry had with Napster was that it was a big, automated way to copy copyrighted material, and this was where the issue of intellectual property came in. Fed up with piracy, the major record labels decided to sue Napster under the **Digital Millenium Copyright ACT (DMCA).** The DMCA criminalised the infrigement of copyright, therefore meaning that Napster was forced to shut down.

Although now, Napster has been shut down, it still spurred one of the internet's greatest moral debates - Just because we can get the music we want without paying for it, **should we?**

//"Music piracy is the copying and distributing of copies of music for which the composer, recording artist, or copyright-holding record company did not give consent" -// Google Definitions The issue of piracy is linked with that of intellectual property. The number of illegal downloads per year since 2004 is rising at an astronomical rate. In fact, in a recent article published by The Guardian, it was reported that a staggering 95% of music downloads in the year 2011 were illegal, a vast majority obtained through P2P networking websites, or through torrents.
 * Piracy **

Yet the very fact that the source is easily accessible online, makes it very easy for people to download intellectual, copyrighted content for free, rather than paying money, and obtaining it from a service such as Apples' iTunes. Again, the question of moral issues arises, just because it is available to us, should we really download it illegaly?

Patents are a cruical part of the technology industry. An example of this would be where [|Google recently announced that it was buying Motorola for a stunning US$12.5 Billion.] The main reason for this, was that it gave the search giant access to a range of technology patents which it can use to defend against legal action by its industry rivals.
 * Intellectual Property **

Another example of the importance of patents would be the the patent war that Apple and Samsung are currently fighting over, which banned the Samsung Galaxy Tablet from being sold in Europe.

Apple filed a claim against Samsung, claiming that the Galaxy Tablet had copied patented technology, thus infringing its rights.

The video below breifly explains how a patent protects Apple's technology from being used in other tablets.

media type="youtube" key="qsz5JsDqAYs" height="362" width="629"

Therefore, whilst intellectual property rights benefit people, allowing them to protect their own ideas and discoveries in the form of patents and copyright, it can also be got round very easily, as seen in the piracy cases, thus linking to the moral and ethical issues of how technology should be used safely in this global society.

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