Re: JOGL in Debian
Jordi Guti?rrez Hermoso wrote:
> A lot of other local laws don't define "intellectual property", but
> people use the term anyways as if it were legally defined. It's sad
> news to see that France does and that other laws are also doing it.
> :-(
Why do you think it's necessary for a law to define a term of art
for lawyers? As long as people know what is meant by the term, what
is the problem?
I don't think there is a single place in legislation where the term
"European law" is defined. Still, the term is widely used and (apart
from some corner cases) lawyers know what it means.
> Anyways, TRIPS seems to define "intellectual property" to be
> "copyright and related rights", trademarks, "geographical indications"
> (this one is new for me. If I label my product as originating from my
> country, then this is intellectual property? What does intellect have
> to do with being born in a specific geographical location?),
> industrial designs, patents, "layout designs of integrated circuits"
> (why include a section just for this, and why not subsume this under
> industrial designs?), and "protection of undisclosed information".
> This last one is also broad enough to include almost anything, since
> any information that "has commercial value because it is secret" is
> "protected" under this law.
TRIPs provides a definition to indicate its scope. TRIPs is not a law.
And yes, there are things that today are considered IP which are not
"products of the mind". That's what you get when introducing an
umbrella term. But it's not unique for intellectual property: my
Web browser can also do FTP, Gopher and NNTP.
Geographical indications: this refers to e.g. labeling sparkling wine
from California as "Champagne" (which is not allowed because Champagne
is a protected geographical indication). It's related to trademarks.
The two design rights are related but hava a different purpose.
IC layout designs are purely functional and technical, while industrial
designs are ornamental. They need separate criteria because of their
different purpose.
Trade secrets: yes that's a pretty broad definition. If information is
undisclosed and has commercial value because it is secret, the owner
of the information has a cause of action against people who misappropriate
this information from him. (Very funny, repeating that key here).
Arnoud
--
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
Arnoud blogt nu ook: http://blog.iusmentis.com/
Reply to: