To preserve rights to intellectual property (IPR), it is necessary to take a number of measures to protect and protect them. All work on the creation of IP must be recorded in writing. If the IP is created internally by the company, that is, by its employees, it is necessary to ensure that the official works are executed in accordance with the law. Timely registration of a brand as a trademark will protect you from reputational losses and costs of litigation with competitors. Below, we’ll take a closer look at challenges in IT law and possibilities to protect your developments.
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Introduction to the Intersection of IT Law and Intellectual Property
Often companies become known thanks to their brand – a name or logo that consumers and clients associate with a certain level of quality of goods or services. However such a brand is protected by the state only after it is registered as a trademark. At the same time, registration is territorial in nature – this means that the trademark is protected only for those classes of goods and services and only in the territory for which it is registered.
Having a registered trademark will also help protect the domain name, since domains themselves are not protected as IP under Belarusian law.
Some IPs may be patented. If a company owns the rights to an original technical solution, hardware and software complex, or design that meets the criteria established by law for objects of industrial property rights, then such IP can be protected by obtaining a patent for an invention, utility model, or industrial design.
Best Practices for IT Law Compliance in IP Protection
Considering any IT project from the point of view of intellectual property, we can distinguish 6 main objects of protection.
- Source code.
- Databases.
- Object code.
- Algorithms.
- Interface.
- Hardware and software systems.
Source and object code, as well as databases, are protected by copyright. Algorithms, interfaces, software and hardware comply with patent law.
Copyright is a set of rights that automatically belong to the person who creates an original work of authorship. These include, but are not limited to, the right to reproduce the work, create derivative works from it, distribute copies, and publicly perform and display the intellectual property.
The main purpose of copyright in IT is to encourage and reward authors through the granting of proprietary rights to create new works and to make those works available to the public. By providing creators with an exclusive right to protect their creative works from misuse, creators benefit economically and the public benefits from the use of creative works.
Patent law is a set of legal norms governing property and non-property relations associated with the sale of industrial property, which includes objects of patent law. The legal framework provides for a certain list of objects for which a patent can be obtained:
- invention is a device or method, e.g.
- utility model – technical solution
- industrial design – design solution for appearance.
If we talk about cybersecurity in intellectual property, we should mention several aspects. One of the priorities when ensuring cybersecurity in patent offices is to create reliable system protection. This includes installing up-to-date antivirus software, firewalls and intrusion detection systems to protect against malicious software.
Another important aspect of cybersecurity in patent offices is the establishment of a multi-layered identification and authentication system. For example, regularly changing passwords and controlling access to information only for authorized employees. Such protection measures will help prevent unauthorized access to confidential data and reduce the risk of leaks.
Emergent Issues in IT Law: Data and IP Protection
The IT industry is special in the sense that most of the products and services created by companies in this industry involve the use of new technologies and innovative solutions. It is precisely because of such features that intellectual property in the IT industry becomes very valuable. Software companies often face the problem of unauthorized use of their products or plagiarism. There are also disputes over copyright and software patents for data protection in IT law. All of these factors make protecting intellectual property in the IT industry more important than ever before.
Copyright protection for programmers applies to various objects of intellectual property – these include works of science, literature and art in accordance with the local legislation of a particular jurisdiction. Copyright also extends to a computer program or software protected as a literary work. If we are talking about software, then the source and object code, audiovisual display (design and interface design), as well as preparatory materials necessary for the programmer’s work will be protected.
Design layouts, sketches, 3D models, illustrations, animations, and various graphic elements used to create software – all these are also objects of copyright that can be used, including in the IT industry. To implement a product, it is important to conduct research and determine what problem the object will solve and how. The results of the research can be expressed in the form of text and published in the form of an article or manual, and they are also protected by copyright.
To protect their intellectual property in the IT industry, companies and developers can take the following measures.
- Registration of patents and copyrights. To protect their intellectual property rights, companies and developers can register their patents and copyrights for the products and solutions they create.
- Conclusion of contracts. To protect their intellectual property rights, companies and developers can enter into agreements with partners and clients that will regulate the use of the created products and solutions. Such agreements may contain conditions prohibiting the resale of products, the use of products only for certain purposes, etc.
- Use of protective technologies. To protect intellectual property, companies and developers can use various security technologies, such as digital signatures, data encryption, copy protection systems, etc. These technologies help protect products and solutions from unauthorized use and copying.
Technology Law and IP Protection
In order to protect the idea, and not just the form of expression, IT products can also be protected as inventions or utility models. However, this is a rather lengthy and costly process, which is more appropriate for large IT companies rather than for individuals and small legal entities. Moreover, in the case of patenting IT products, it is often very important to fulfill the condition of “industrial suitability”, since in this case the product must be not just a theoretical development, but a technical solution to a problem.
The use of proprietary copyrights in software products, namely: public performance, reproduction, processing, distribution, property rental, etc., always requires the conclusion of copyright agreements.
Even when concluding such an agreement, the parties often forget to indicate an exhaustive list of transferred property rights, and this leads to serious problems in the further use of software products. It should be remembered that property rights that are not indicated in the copyright agreement as alienable are considered untransferred.
It is also very important to document the transfer of property rights to the product in the “employee (author) – employer” relationship.
Patentable algorithms are found in many areas of the IT industry, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality technologies. It is also possible to obtain a patent for an algorithm in the gaming industry if you correctly describe the essence of your technical solution in the application.
The rapid informatization of all sectors of the economy, the development of digital law and government attention to the IT sector create high demand in the labor market. An IT lawyer is needed at every stage – from strategy development to project monetization. We will protect your intellectual property and any IT developments. Contact us now.
The article’s author is Denys Chernyshov – founder and CEO of the globally-famous organization Eternity Law International.