Intellectual property

TEXT 2

Read the text to understand what information is of primary importance or new for you.

I. LEAD-IN

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the definition of ‘intellectual property’ according to Ukrainian Civil Code?

2. How is intellectual property protected in Ukraine?

2. Can you give examples of breaking intellectual property laws?

3. Match the following English words and expressions with their Ukrainian equivalents:

1. copyright a) невідчутний (на дотик)

2. trademark b) авторське право

3. intangible c) оголошення, реклама

4. advertisement d) нововведення

5. innovation e) фабрична марка

Intellectual property, creative works that have economic value and are protected by law. Intellectual property laws reward the creators of most types of intellectual property by preventing others from copying, performing, or distributing those works without permission. The main purpose of this protection is to provide incentives for people to produce scientific and creative works that benefit society at large. grant of rights from a government agency before they can be protected by law. Nearly all nations have laws protecting intellectual property. However, some nations do not vigorously enforce intellectual property laws, making illegal copying, or piracy, a major problem in these areas.

Intellectual property was not always recognized as a single field of law. Historically, the fields of patent, copyright, and trademark developed independently. In the late 20th century, however, legal experts began to recognize that these various fields of law had a great deal in common because they all pertained to intangible products of the mind. Nevertheless, an attorney will often specialize in only one area of intellectual property, such as patent law, and the legal rules for the different branches of intellectual property law vary greatly.

In all branches of intellectual property, the legal system seeks to balance two competing concerns. On the one hand, protection must be strong enough to encourage authors and inventors to invest the necessary effort in innovation. On the other hand, the law must also allow people some freedom to use the intellectual property of others. This is because artistic, technological, and commercial progress always requires building on the work of others. To strike this balance, all branches of intellectual property law confer general rights on creators but also limit those rights with a variety of exceptions. For example, in patent law, a scientist may use someone else’s invention to conduct experiments. Similarly, copyright law allows a literary critic to quote passages of a novel in a review. Under trademark law, a company may use a competitor’s brand name in a comparative advertisement. In all these ways, intellectual property law tries to be flexible enough to protect the property rights of the creator while also allowing the public to benefit from the protected work.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-20