Approaches to Fighting Piracy
Content
BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
NAME: FABOLA ADEOLA EZEKIEL MATRIC NUMBER: 2007/0264 COURSE OF STUDY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COURSE TUTOR: DR IBIKUNLE COURSE CODE: ITP 403 COURSE TITLE: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
DATE: 28/10/2010
1
I.
Mention 10 approaches that government and associations may take to fight piracy.
1.
Government examines the products of small traders so as to ascertain their
originality before granting them trading licenses. This would reduce the number of pirates masquerading under the blanket of legal traders.
2.
Government intervenes by shutting down points at which pirated products enter
the country, and stepping up control at strategic border points. 3. Government inform society of the risks inherent in the consumption of pirated
goods by educating the masses to consolidate the culture of intellectual property, and to alert the consumer to the fact that the difference in price of a pirated product is less than the difference in quality and that to buy a cheap product is only worthwhile if that product is of good quality and legal. 4. Government offers training to technicians, police officers, experts and agents of
the Federal Revenue Department to enable them identify pirated goods and take the appropriate line of action. 5. Government carries out measures is to impede and make more costly the logistics
of the production and distribution of pirated goods, while ensuring that the distributors are unable to obtain the quantities needed to satisfy existing demand; in theory, this should force up the prices of the illegal pirated goods. 6. Manufacturers should provide original products at subsidized rates to exploit
consumers' tendency to opt for quality when price is within their purchasing power; this would reduce the purchase of pirated goods. 7. Manufacturers make their products readily available to customers for example in
street corners to reduce the chances of these customers purchasing pirated goods as a matter of convenience. 8. Government ensures that activities under the economic component are designed to
help make the prices of original products more competitive for example by granting tax benefits to legal products to be sold at popular prices.
2
9.
Government ensures that the legislation keeps pace with the perfection of criminal
and piracy-related methods by proper enforcement of the law for the effective protection of intellectual property. 10. Governments intervention by intensifying repressive measures at the points of
sale of pirated goods, and by effecting economic changes that result in the increase in price of pirates' wares and equipments, all aimed at making pirating more difficult.
II.
Mention the impact of four technologies on the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
3
1.
Impact of storage technologies:
Storage technologies are devices and systems that hold information in a reusable form. These include paper and ink, tapes, and semiconductor memory. Storage technologies have undergone some trends overtime which have had impacts on the enforcement of intellectual property. Firstly, as storage devices have become cheaper and capable of holding more information, it has become easier for people carrying out infringements to get away with making illegal copies of works and documents. Secondly, as storage devices have become less specialized to specific types of information formats, it has become more difficult to control the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The trends in these technologies have had an impact on the right to control the reproduction of copy righted materials. During the early print environment, making copies of works illegally was almost impossible because of the large transfer of machinery that had to be transported from one place to another. But with the advent of reprography, audio and video taping, and the digitization of computers today, people make copies easily. These illegal copies are also hard to track due to the digitization of computers. Also, advances in information storage technology have made the process of copying information cheaper, easier, and available to more people. The technologies are making the old definitions of rights, infringements, and fair use ambiguous and largely obsolete. Because of technical advances and the blurring of definitions, the traditional copyright enforcement mechanism, whereby proprietors sue violators in civil proceedings, may no longer by effective in protecting the creative and economic interests of copy right owners. 2. Impact of communication technologies: Communication technologies is the term used to refer to devices that carry information from one place to another. These devices have become an integral part of our societies, and we rely on them heavily during our day-to-day activities. However, they carry information services which are protected by intellectual property law; hence the trends in these technologies hugely affect the enforcement of IPL, most notably the right to control publication and performance. In the past, conveying performance of intellectual property involved practically moving printed copies of documents or expressing the works in live stage performances. There might have been some unauthorized performances of copyrighted works, but composers and creators found it possible to monitor enough of the uses of their work to protect their economic rights. However with the innovation of radio, television, and satellite communication, expressions of works could be aired,
4
broadcast, and generally dispersed performances over a wide area thus making it extremely difficult to track their works. 3. Impact of processing technologies: Information processing is the physical transformation and logical manipulation of symbols. Information processing is an activity that has advanced rapidly over the years. It has been used to automate tasks, and even to improve the efficiency and speed of much of the information processing work and to transform many kinds of information, including some types of intellectual property. The availability of processing technologies has had impacts on the right to control making of derivative works seeing as word processors are readily available to copy text materials and create illegal copies of documents, and these illegal copies are almost impossible to track. These technologies have also had impacts on the derivation of music and video files, and of computer programs. For instance, some tools can be used to adapt existing software to new uses; thus if they are employed in the unauthorized production of derivative works, their use may violate intellectual property rights.
4. Impact of internet technologies
The digital technologies described above enable the transmission and use of all of protected materials in digital form over interactive networks. The process of digitization allows the conversion of such materials into binary form, which can be transmitted across the Internet, and then re-distributed, copied, and stored in perfect digital form. While the transmission of text, sound, images and computer programs over the Internet is already commonplace, this is also becoming true for transmission of audiovisual works such as feature films, as the technical constraints of narrow bandwidth begin to disappear. Materials protected by copyright and related rights, spanning the range of information and entertainment products, constitute much of the valuable subject matter of e-commerce. It is for this reason that the Internet has revolutionized the manner in which Intellectual Property Laws have been enforced in recent times. It cuts across various issues, for instance the transmission of web pages from web servers to web clients which should arguably be protected by copyright laws. This and many more are ways in which the internet has impacted the enforcement of intellectual property laws.
5
REFERENCES
1. http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/enforcement/en/wipo_ace_3/wipo_ace_3_ 14.doc 6
2.
Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information by U.S. Government Printing office, (April 1986).
3.
http://www.noblis.org/NewsPublications/Publications/TechnicalPublications/Telecommunicati onsReview/Documents/TR01_3.doc
7
NAME: FABOLA ADEOLA EZEKIEL MATRIC NUMBER: 2007/0264 COURSE OF STUDY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COURSE TUTOR: DR IBIKUNLE COURSE CODE: ITP 403 COURSE TITLE: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
DATE: 28/10/2010
1
I.
Mention 10 approaches that government and associations may take to fight piracy.
1.
Government examines the products of small traders so as to ascertain their
originality before granting them trading licenses. This would reduce the number of pirates masquerading under the blanket of legal traders.
2.
Government intervenes by shutting down points at which pirated products enter
the country, and stepping up control at strategic border points. 3. Government inform society of the risks inherent in the consumption of pirated
goods by educating the masses to consolidate the culture of intellectual property, and to alert the consumer to the fact that the difference in price of a pirated product is less than the difference in quality and that to buy a cheap product is only worthwhile if that product is of good quality and legal. 4. Government offers training to technicians, police officers, experts and agents of
the Federal Revenue Department to enable them identify pirated goods and take the appropriate line of action. 5. Government carries out measures is to impede and make more costly the logistics
of the production and distribution of pirated goods, while ensuring that the distributors are unable to obtain the quantities needed to satisfy existing demand; in theory, this should force up the prices of the illegal pirated goods. 6. Manufacturers should provide original products at subsidized rates to exploit
consumers' tendency to opt for quality when price is within their purchasing power; this would reduce the purchase of pirated goods. 7. Manufacturers make their products readily available to customers for example in
street corners to reduce the chances of these customers purchasing pirated goods as a matter of convenience. 8. Government ensures that activities under the economic component are designed to
help make the prices of original products more competitive for example by granting tax benefits to legal products to be sold at popular prices.
2
9.
Government ensures that the legislation keeps pace with the perfection of criminal
and piracy-related methods by proper enforcement of the law for the effective protection of intellectual property. 10. Governments intervention by intensifying repressive measures at the points of
sale of pirated goods, and by effecting economic changes that result in the increase in price of pirates' wares and equipments, all aimed at making pirating more difficult.
II.
Mention the impact of four technologies on the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
3
1.
Impact of storage technologies:
Storage technologies are devices and systems that hold information in a reusable form. These include paper and ink, tapes, and semiconductor memory. Storage technologies have undergone some trends overtime which have had impacts on the enforcement of intellectual property. Firstly, as storage devices have become cheaper and capable of holding more information, it has become easier for people carrying out infringements to get away with making illegal copies of works and documents. Secondly, as storage devices have become less specialized to specific types of information formats, it has become more difficult to control the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The trends in these technologies have had an impact on the right to control the reproduction of copy righted materials. During the early print environment, making copies of works illegally was almost impossible because of the large transfer of machinery that had to be transported from one place to another. But with the advent of reprography, audio and video taping, and the digitization of computers today, people make copies easily. These illegal copies are also hard to track due to the digitization of computers. Also, advances in information storage technology have made the process of copying information cheaper, easier, and available to more people. The technologies are making the old definitions of rights, infringements, and fair use ambiguous and largely obsolete. Because of technical advances and the blurring of definitions, the traditional copyright enforcement mechanism, whereby proprietors sue violators in civil proceedings, may no longer by effective in protecting the creative and economic interests of copy right owners. 2. Impact of communication technologies: Communication technologies is the term used to refer to devices that carry information from one place to another. These devices have become an integral part of our societies, and we rely on them heavily during our day-to-day activities. However, they carry information services which are protected by intellectual property law; hence the trends in these technologies hugely affect the enforcement of IPL, most notably the right to control publication and performance. In the past, conveying performance of intellectual property involved practically moving printed copies of documents or expressing the works in live stage performances. There might have been some unauthorized performances of copyrighted works, but composers and creators found it possible to monitor enough of the uses of their work to protect their economic rights. However with the innovation of radio, television, and satellite communication, expressions of works could be aired,
4
broadcast, and generally dispersed performances over a wide area thus making it extremely difficult to track their works. 3. Impact of processing technologies: Information processing is the physical transformation and logical manipulation of symbols. Information processing is an activity that has advanced rapidly over the years. It has been used to automate tasks, and even to improve the efficiency and speed of much of the information processing work and to transform many kinds of information, including some types of intellectual property. The availability of processing technologies has had impacts on the right to control making of derivative works seeing as word processors are readily available to copy text materials and create illegal copies of documents, and these illegal copies are almost impossible to track. These technologies have also had impacts on the derivation of music and video files, and of computer programs. For instance, some tools can be used to adapt existing software to new uses; thus if they are employed in the unauthorized production of derivative works, their use may violate intellectual property rights.
4. Impact of internet technologies
The digital technologies described above enable the transmission and use of all of protected materials in digital form over interactive networks. The process of digitization allows the conversion of such materials into binary form, which can be transmitted across the Internet, and then re-distributed, copied, and stored in perfect digital form. While the transmission of text, sound, images and computer programs over the Internet is already commonplace, this is also becoming true for transmission of audiovisual works such as feature films, as the technical constraints of narrow bandwidth begin to disappear. Materials protected by copyright and related rights, spanning the range of information and entertainment products, constitute much of the valuable subject matter of e-commerce. It is for this reason that the Internet has revolutionized the manner in which Intellectual Property Laws have been enforced in recent times. It cuts across various issues, for instance the transmission of web pages from web servers to web clients which should arguably be protected by copyright laws. This and many more are ways in which the internet has impacted the enforcement of intellectual property laws.
5
REFERENCES
1. http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/enforcement/en/wipo_ace_3/wipo_ace_3_ 14.doc 6
2.
Intellectual Property Rights in an Age of Electronics and Information by U.S. Government Printing office, (April 1986).
3.
http://www.noblis.org/NewsPublications/Publications/TechnicalPublications/Telecommunicati onsReview/Documents/TR01_3.doc
7
