It has been seen that with a lot of emergence of digital and information technologies towards the current decade as the defining paradigms of new communication has bought along a whole new set of challenges to legal regime.
The very instance the Intellectual Property laws were first drafted in 1623 , computers did not exist and hence it was not foreseen that it would become necessary to protect information stored in it .
With the advent of e-commerce and e-business, it has become important for business to protect their intellectual property rights online.
With such an advancement comes along various loopholes and to settle such loopholes comes the need of property advocate.
COPYRIGHT ISSUES IN CYBER SPACE
The increase in the utilization of the Internet, has placed problems in copyright protection for digital transmission that have become worse. It is a paradoxical situation and if India does not provide for legal protection for technological measures, the Internet may create havoc in enforcement of copyright protection.
The enactment of the Information Technology Act 2000 addressed problems created by “Cyberspace” but still there are certain issues yet to be faced relating to Intellectual Property.
Copyright is violated when an unauthorised individual does something that breaches the copyright proprietor’s rights
1.Linking allows a website user to visit another website without leaving that particular website. It may infringe the rights of the owner of the page as linked-to sites can lose income as their revenues are often tied to the number of viewers who visit their home page.
This leads to copyright infringement as one site contains links to copyrighted materials contained in another site against the knowledge or will of the owner.
There are three types of copyright violations:
1.Direct: When there has been a direct link between the infringer’s infringement of the Copyright Act’s privileges and the infringer’s infringement of the Copyright Act’s rights.
2.Contributory: When internet providers, web administrators, as well as other operators, could be held accountable for helping others in copyright infringement, the most important component which must be included is that the third party.
3.Vicarious: When an infringement occurs via an internet website or a provider, and the violation benefits the internet website or even the provider financially, such third parties towards the violation are held accountable under the copyright act.
Such acts create a great disadvantage on the part of the user , hence property advocates are thus needy.
TRADEMARK ISSUES IN CYBER SPACE
A trademark is described as a mark that can be displayed in a graphical style so that the goods or services incorporated into that mark are easily recognisable and distinct in the perspective of the individual looking at that mark.
The domain name holder has no legal right, claim or real power over the official title of the trademark it is bearing.
1.Cybersquatting :It is the registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else’s trademark.
2.Reverse domain name hijacking: Under the fear of high litigation costs and legal proceedings, the domain owner may relinquish control of the domain towards the trademark owner.
3.Meta tags : These tags are being exploited to create fake rankings and misuse trademark and domain names associated with owner’s trademarks online.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL REGIME RELATING TO IPR’s
The legal regime that governs the intellectual property and the protection of the same which acts for the base of any trade.
1.The Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property :This convention was concluded in 1883 being the first international instrument to cover patents on industrial innovations.
The content of this document do not necessarily reflect the views / position of RKS Associate, but remains a probable view. For any further queries or follow up please contact RKS Associate at admin@rksassociate.com