INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
English for Lawyers I.3
HW: Employment tribunal
„If you think you have been unfairly (1) ____________ from your job,
you can (2) ____________ a claim for your case to be (3)
____________ by an employment tribunal. A tribunal (4)
____________ a court, although it is more informal. It hears different
types of complaints from employees. If your complaint (5)
____________ to a hearing, it will be heard by a panel of three
people, which typically (6) ____________ the chair, who is a qualified
legal practitioner, and two non-legally qualified members, who may
have experience as employers or union representatives, for example.
The tribunal will (7) ____________ whether your dismissal was fair or
not. If your case is successful, the tribunal will also decide whether
compensation should be (8) ____________, and if so, how much. The
tribunal may (9) ____________ a cost order, requiring the claimant or
the respondent (employer) to (10) ____________ the costs (11)
____________ by the other party.“
Correct answers
1. dismissed
2. file
3. heard
4. resembles
5. goes
6. includes
7. decide
8. awarded
9. issue
10. pay
11. incurred
HW: Powell
 Briefly summarize the text.
Property and its classification
 personal
 movable
 land
 corporeal
 tangible
 real
 immovable
 chattels
 incorporeal
 intangible
Intellectual property
 What is it?
 creative expressions
 creations of someone‘s mind
 = intellect that can be owned
 What is creation?
 something that has been created, e.g.
 written
 invented
 performed
 designed
 composed
 discovered
 painted
Intellectual property
 an area of law concerning intangible property
rights and their protection
 the protection cannot apply to the ideas themselves,
only to ideas or new products which have in some
way taken on a material or artistic form
 a rapidly changing area
Intellectual property
 traditionally, intellectual property rights are broken
down into three main areas:
 patents
 trade marks (US: trademarks)
 copyrights
 other areas:
 trade secrets
 design rights (e.g. industrial design, utility design)
 the concept of passing off
Patent
 a monopoly right in an invention
 inventions, procedures, processes, systems, methods of
operation, discoveries (capable of industrial application)
 a patent must be granted pursuant to the relevant
legislation
 once the patent is granted, the protection remains in
force for a statutory period of years (e.g. 20 years in
the UK)
 a patent empowers the owner of an invention to take
legal action against unlicensed manufacture, use or
sale of the patented invention, and to claim damages
Patent
 Most patent legislation requires that a patentable
invention:
1. is novel
2. involves an inventive step
3. is useful or capable of industrial application
4. is an invention or, in the US, non-obvious
Listening 1
Registred trade mark
 similar to a patent in that it provides the holder with
an exclusive right to use a „distinctive“ mark in
relation to a product or a service
 the mark must be distinctive
Passing-off (v: pass off)
 = practice of a company illegally trading on the
reputation of another company by misrepresenting
its goods or services as being those of the other
company
 = to represent (goods, etc.) as those of another
 nezákonné použití ochranné známky
 a passing-off action
 žaloba na nezákonné použití ochranné známky
Copyright
 a right subsisting in original literary, dramatic, musical and
artistic works and in sound recordings, films, broadcasts and
cable programmes, computer programs, incl. software and
multimedia
 copyright holders possess economic rights associated with
their works, incl. the right to prohibit unauthorized use of the
works
 copyright infringement
 porušení autorského práva
 copyright only provides a partial monopoly in a work, as
various rules provide exceptions by which a work may be
copied without infringing on the rights of the author
Listening 2: Right of fair use
Right of fair use (GB: fair dealing)
One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize
others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations
found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright law (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more
important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” The doctrine of fair use has developed through a
substantial number of court decisions over the years and has been codified in section 107 of the
copyright law.
Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work
may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and
research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a
particular use is fair.
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for
nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work
The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not
always be clear or easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may
safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does
not substitute for obtaining permission.
Rights related to copyright
 sometimes neighbouring rights (příbuzná práva)
Rights to
 performing artists (such as actors and musicians) in
their performances
 producers of sound recordings (e.g. CD) in their
recordings
 broadcasting organizations in their radio and TV
programs
Trade secret
 law provides protection against others from
misappropriating the secret
 using improper means, e.g. theft or fraud to obtain the
secret
 obtaining the trade secret from the breach of a
confidential relationship
How are the following creations of
mind protected?
 inventions
 procedures
 processes
 systems
 methods of operation
 discoveries
 PATENT
How are the following creations of
mind protected?
 literal and artistic material, i.e.
 writings
 paintings
 photographs
 sound recordings
 films
 computer programs
 COPYRIGHT
How are the following creations of
mind protected?
 names
 logos
 slogans
 words
 symbols
 TRADEMARK
How are the following creations of
mind protected?
 formulas
 patterns
 business plans
 TRADE SECRET
Whose right is it?
 to reproduce the work
 to prepare derivative works
 to distribute copies
 to perform the work publicly
 to display the work publicly
 COPYRIGHT OWNER‘S
Whose right is it?
 to exclude others from
 making
 using
 selling
 offering for sale
 commercially exploiting something
 PATENT HOLDER‘S = PATENTEE‘S
Word study - Chromá
Next week (December 3, 2013)
 Do you want bonus points?
 Presentation!
 for each topic from the 3rd semester
 1 person
 5-10 mins
 0-3 bonus points
 Mock credit test next week
 HW: revise
References
 http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
 www.google.com
 http://www.thefreedictionary.com
 Chromá, Marta. Czech -English law dictionary. Leda, 2001.
 Chromá, Marta. English-Czech law dictionary. Leda, 1997.
 Chromá, M. New Introduction to Legal English Volume I.
Praha : Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2003.562 p.
 Krois-Linder, A. International Legal English. Cambridge
University Press, 2006. 320p.
 Powell, R. Law Today. Longman Group UK Limited, 1993.
128p.
Have a good week! 