Various Types of Intellectual Property
Intellectual property refers to things people create out of their minds. Intellectual property law consists of rights related to creative works or ideas or expression of ideas, including the following:-
· patents
· designs
· trade marks
· trade secrets
Intellectual property laws are usually of the nature of civil laws (where people can sue you for damages). Sometimes, criminal law (where you can be fined or jailed) is involved. And sometimes, both civil law and criminal law may be involved.
Copyright
A copyrightrefers to the exclusive right of the copyright holder to do a number of things to a piece of created work, including its reproducing, its publishing, its public performance and its broadcasting.
The following are works protected under the Copyright Act: musical works, art works, drama, sound recordings, movies and films, broadcasts, cable programs, published editions of works, live performances, and literary works (which arguably includes computer programs, web pages)
The author or creator of an original work has the copyright at the point of creation of the work, whether or not the work has been published. Under the Berne Convention, of which Singapore is a signatory, the author does not have to register the work to have the copyright.
A copyright can be assigned (transferred, for example, by being sold to another party)
Under certain situations a limited amount of copying is permissible and these are deemed as "fair dealing". For example, you are allowed to copy a reasonable portion for private study or research. In other situations, whether a particular dealing is a fair dealing is decided on a case-by-case basis and a few factors will be considered.
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