Introduction
Intellectual property law is a law that was designed with the aim of protecting ideas that have been invented by individuals from being reused by others. It is a measure that was undertaken considering the fact that ideas move faster than any other tangible good. The law recognizes that conceiving an idea takes a great deal of effort for an individual who not only invests their time but also other resources to develop it (Torremans). The time that is usually taken to develop an idea is mostly longer than the time that the idea can spread and consequently be used by other people. It was discovered that an intellectual idea can easily be stolen by another individual without notice; the law however recognizes the efforts that have been employed by an individual to come up with a certain idea and therefore promises to protect it from being used by another individual without permission. It is to be noted that the law also prohibits any development from the idea without prior consultation from the person that first invented it.
Considering the case of marina and Leona, we find that they had come up with an idea during their academic years in college. They had acquired some knowledge that enabled them to reason and come up with an idea that would guide people about the traffic situation in their busy city. Even though they were together as they reasoned out on how the idea can be helpful to them even as they catch buses to and from their college premise, they later on discovered that the idea could be used to manufacture devices that can be used by the entire city. During their time in college, they had probably not thought of developing the idea later in life and probably parted ways without talking much about it. It is after some months after they were through with their college that they thought that they can develop the idea by starting a company. Marina started off eighteen months after she left college and established a company that would deal in the production of devices that would monitor traffic on the road. Nine moths later, Leona started a similar company but targeting the underground transport system.
Even though they had different trademarks for their products, they used similar technology considering that it was a joint idea. Marina could not sue Leona for using her idea because it was a joint invention. However the two have faced a risk of their idea being developed by other people who are also marketing it. Leorna and marina may have invested a lot of resources and time to come up with the idea, but the people that are developing on it will only used minimal resources but make more money from it. This basically means that their products may loose meaning as people prefer the other products that seem more convenient and probably cheaper than what they are producing. The harm can however be prevented if marina and Leona sought legal protection in advance. This should have happened immediately they discovered that the idea was workable when they were in college. After using it personally and seeing the results that it produced, they should have approached their local intellectual property right and explain their inventory. The idea would therefore be patented under their name and thus preventing any other person from using or developing it without their permission.
To protect them from such exploitation, the law would require that anybody that desired to probably use or develop their idea to obtain permission from them. Leona and marina have registered their products but their idea which is the most important is under the risk of being used and misused against them. The journalist incorporated the idea that was being used practically and produced it in writing. What is making the idea to be under even greater risk is the fact that the journalist is marketing his book by discouraging people from using the electronic devise with the suggestion that their devices are not legal and that it interferes with the privacy of travelers. The journalist may decide to even sell the book at a cheaper rate just to lure people to use it rather than using the electronic device (Cornish and Llewelyn). The journalist did not invent the idea of using an alternative means to monitor traffic in London, his materials were basically got from the ideas that hand previously been invented by marina and Leona. If the idea had been registered under the intellectual property law, then Leona and marina would sue the journalist for not only developing their idea without their permission but also for causing damages to them by discouraging them from using their device.
Intellectual property rights refer to the monopolistic protection that is granted to all creations that pertain to the mind, whether they are artistic or for commercial benefits. Once the idea of the electronic device has been guaranteed protection under the English law, it will basically mean that anybody that may desire to use similar technology will have to obtain a licence from the two. Such protection will be guaranteed as long as the two are a live and also some other years even when their life is terminated through death. Considering what they are currently facing, the court will have to determine whether they can be granted legal protection for their technology considering that they had already registered their trademark. The biggest challenge for them will be to prove to the court that the idea was actually conceived by them and that what the journalist and the other company are developing on is an idea that they had already conceived.
The role of the law is to ensure that justice is practiced by using the necessary evidence available to them to pass judgement. The journalist and the other company manufacturing the product could as well claim that the idea was originally conceived by them and that they have patent rights to them. When the court is faced with such kind of allegations, they need to establish the exact owner of the idea (Howells). The reason why marina and Leona need to seek urgent legal address is because more inventions are still being developed on their original idea and it may be difficult for them to have maximum protection considering the harm that will already have been done to them. The reason why they need to be protected is because they may not have the ability to develop the idea to suit the ever changing technological needs of the people. By having the idea registered it will basically mean that they will have some monetary gain on any development that is made on their idea.
Even though their electronic devices are working out well, it may reach a time when other sophisticated devises will be invented that will be preferred by the people. It would therefore be of no benefit to them considering the fact that they were the first to come up with the idea. Currently, there are only two cases of infringement of their idea that has been reported. This basically means that as long as they produce enough evidence to convince the court that the idea was originally theirs they will be granted legal protection against any future infringements and also be compensated for the damages that they may have been caused by the journalist and the metro rat company. Leona and marina may need to gather the research projects that they used during their time in college to convince the court that the idea was conceived by them during that time. They will need to seek the support of their lectures and other staff members in the college who may have had the knowledge of them launching such a device. If they are still holding the papers that show how they developed their very first electronic device, it will be helpful to them in finding justice.
Marina and Leona cannot compete against each other because they jointly conceived the idea. They can however look for legal protection that will guarantee them equal protection where they can share the benefits on a fifty percent agreement. Despite the fact that they are running independent companies, they can come together to protect the estate of their companies by registering their ideas. They will need to present to the court all the papers that contain information on how the idea was developed and the various technologies that were used to come up with the technology. They also need to have the literature by the journalist and a device being manufactured by the metro rat company. Before the court determines whether the journalist and the metro rat company are guilty of the offence, they will have to compare and contrast the ideas that have been presented in the literature and the device to identify any similarities. By ensuring that Leona and marina obtains justice, the court will look at the time in which the technology was established by the journalist and the company to identify any possibility of infringement.
There is a high possibility that Leona and marina will find justice in the court considering that they have enough evidence that will signify to the court that their idea was already in existence before the journalist and the metro rat company launched into their production. Before they however seek legal address against their competitors, Leona and marina will first have to register their idea under the intellectual property rights. This is basically because before such a registration is made, it be difficult for them to sue the journalist and the metro rat company for using their idea to make money without obtaining permission from them. The court will only protect them from the above after it has determined that they are using their ideas. It may however be challenging for Leona and marina to find justice for their case because there could be a possibility that the company and the journalist may come up with their own evidences to claim that they also had the idea in their mind.
Legal requirements of the invention
According to the English law, an invention will only been granted patent registration if the court has approved that the idea is workable and that it is inline with public interests. There are a number of inventions that could not be covered by the law simply because they were either against the norms and interests of the public. As much as the law has to protect the inventors they are not required to do so at the expense of other people. The journalist mentioned in his book that his literature should be preferred because the electronic devices that are used to monitor traffic are illegal as they violate the right to privacy (Wirtén). The journalist may use such allegations to convince the court that the invention is not right and thus denying it the legal protection. However the court will have to identify if the allegations are genuine or it is simply a tactic that is being used by the journalist to gain economic advantage over Leona and marina. The court will have to determine if there are actually any privacy issues where traffic is concerned. The English law has specifications on what it means by protecting the privacy of an individual.
In determining whether the device violates private rights or not, the court will have to determine how the equipment is used. Even though the device may be used by other individuals for their own personal interests, the court will consider that Leona and marina came up with the idea basically because they wanted to monitor the traffic situation of the city. It is to help the people that use it to know when the next bus or train is coming and if there is space for them to board. These are genuine reasons that are sure to guarantee the two legal protection. Despite the intention of the invention, the court will also need to consider if the equipment is really being used for its intended purpose. This is a finding that will be used by the court to determine whether the allegations of the journalist are valid or not. The device is used along side the CCTV’s which are basically photographs that can view the activities of people in public. There may be no privacy issues that may be identified in the case considering that buses and trains are public means of transport. If the devices would have been found to also being used to monitor people’s activities probably at their places of residence, then the allegations of the journalists will be found valid.
There are also instances where by people misuse devices by using them for their personal intentions instead of what they were designed for. This could probably be the case with the devices as the journalist may claim. There could be individuals that may have been using the devices to monitor who is in the bus or train and thus knowing their probable destination. This could be for the reason of attacking them or investigating their personal life for there own intentions. This could however be put under check to find out if the devices have been used for any criminal offences. In such a case it may be difficult to determine who is using the device for the right reasons and who is not. The court may not be able to gather convincing evidences from the journalist to actually confirm that somebody or people have used the devise to violate the other people’s privacy rights. Unless the journalist produces such valid evidences, then marina and Leona will win the case and consequently be granted protection.
Legal implications of the journalist
The journalist may also want to approach the intellectual property rights to seek legal protection of his book. He could be the first person to have come with the idea in form of a book and would therefore want the government to protect him from any possible infringement. The intellectual property rights law seeks to protect authors of books from their materials being duplicated or reproduced by other people and publishers. For his materials to be safe, he will hence need to approach such offices and patent his work. However as it is, his work is not original, it is basically a transformation of somebody’s technical work into paper. It is like the theoretical work of Leona and marina’s ideas. The journalist can however be granted legal protection after his issues and those of Leona and marina have been sorted out. After the case has been ruled out by the court, the journalist may be found guilty of reproducing marina and leona’s work on paper and also discouraging people from using their devices and instead using his book which he termed as convenient.
In conclusion to the case, the journalist may be required to compensate Leona and marina for the damages and also required to obtain a licence to continue marketing his book. This will however depend on whether marina and Leona will be willing to grant him permission to continue with the reproduction of this book (MacLeod). In case he is granted the permission, he may be required to give marina and Leona a certain percentage of money from every purchase of the book. This will basically mean that marina and Leona will keep gaining as their idea is also reproduce on paper. They will therefore not need to worry much if their devices loose the recognition of their customers in the long run. The literature work of monitoring the traffic in the city may be preferred by a number of customers which will mean that more authors will want to produce such work. By seeking legal protection for his work, the journalist will be protected from such incidences.
His work will be protected by ensuring that nobody else reproduces such ideas on paper without being granted the permission. However the idea of monitoring traffic especially in London remains to be the raw idea of marina and Leona (Biagioli and Galison). They therefore remain with the authority of granting permission to people that desire to develop such idea using whichever means. This therefore means that any other author that will wish to come up with such work will obtain a licence, not from the journalist but from marina and Leona. Even though the work of the journalist will be granted protection from being reproduced, he may not have the power to give other authors the licence to produce the book. This is because the idea is not his; he borrowed it from Leona and marina and will hence be required to pay them a fee for every sale on his materials. Considering that the licensing work is wholly in the hand of marina and Leona, the journalist may not be guaranteed that his work will absolutely be protected from being reproduced. This is because another author may approach marina and Leona to grant them the permission to reproduce the work on paper. In case such an author is granted such permission, then the journalist will not have the power to prosecute them for reproduction of his work.
Legal implications of the metro rat company
The metro rat company has also come up with a similar device as that of marina and Leona. The only difference is that the device is not being used in London but in the other cities of America. The company has expanded its production that it desires to launch such similar devises for the other major cities in the world (Croppe). Looking at the period in which the device was launched by the company, it basically means that they may have hacked the idea of marina and Leona. In this case, Leona and marina would have sought for international intellectual property rights. The world trade organisation requires that all inventions that pertain to technology be granted legal protection internationally so as to prevent them from being reproduced in other nations without permission. The reason why the international community has to be involved in such procedures is because there are certain products that can be used in one country but not in others. This is therefore necessary to protect not only the inventors but also the consumers.
Marina and Leona may have assumed that now that they have invented the technology for the major cities in London, there would be no possibility for the technology to find its way in other cities unless they personally launched it. They may have been dealing with their other colleagues who may have discovered how the technology is being used and thus launching it elsewhere. By being granted international intellectual property rights, no other company in the world would be required to come up with a similar technology anywhere in the world. Even though marina and Leona may not have had adequate resources to launch the devices internationally, their idea would still earn them a substantial amount of income for every device that is sold. The metro rat company would have not thought of launching the idea without obtaining a licence from marina and Leona. The two would then enter into an agreement with the company where they will be required to pay them a certain fee.
Once their idea is registered by the international intellectual property rights, they will not have to be worried about another individual or company using their technology to gain. The intellectual property rights officers will be on the watch out to see if the technology is being used by another person that has not obtained a licence from them. In case somebody comes up with such an idea as in the case of the metro rat company, then marina and Leona will confidently go to a court of law to sue them. They will also have the power to terminate the licence that they have granted to the various companies in case they breach the agreement that they had reached on (Towse and Holzhauer). They will also be able to monitor on what is being done with their technology and generally caution against its misuse. They would also be able to adequately market their products by minimizing on the number of licences that they issue to other companies to launch the product. The intellectual property rights will also grant them protection against any other form of reproduction whether it is in form of a book, magazine, photograph and movies that will want to display the device.
A number of people like marina and Leona may miss out on obtaining legal protection for their ideas because of the procedures that are involved in registering the products. Some may also be misinformed about their legal rights when it comes to their inventions (Cullis). They may also lack an appropriate person or lawyer to guide them through the procedure and thus being at a risk of loosing their patent rights. In the world where technology has become of utmost importance, people are looking for opportunities to generate more income through various inventions. People may always assume that the idea is still in their hands just to later on discover that somebody else went faster before them and used the technology. It is therefore required that an individual obtains patent rights for his or her inventions immediately they get the idea. The idea may have not been fully developed, but by registering it, they are reporting to the concerned authorities that they already have the idea in mind. The idea will be protected from being hacked by another person. The role of the intellectual property rights department is to ensure that an individual is given adequate time to develop his idea and also reap the benefit that comes after his efforts has bore fruit.
Conclusion
Intellectual property rights department was formed after realising the need of protecting the intellectual efforts that are made by people to come up with ideas. There are different kinds of rights that are granted to individuals, they differ from country to country. The rights that may be offered to an individual in United States are different from those being offered in London. That is why it is necessary for an individual seeking such protection to know the rights in his or her country that govern the same. There are also specific provisions in the law that govern rights internationally. These are mostly under the charge of world trade organisation and other international business bodies. Apart from obtaining the rights on the national level, an individual is also required to seek legal protection for the same internationally. The procedures for obtaining such registration may be quite expensive and involving, but once they process is complete an individual will be guaranteed protection for his entire life and also some years after his death. If the idea is still under development, they will be given a licence that signifies that their work is being recognized. Such a licence is however temporal and the individual will be required to renew it either on a yearly or quarterly basis depending on the terms of agreement.
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