What is Intellectual Property?
In order to avoid common misconceptions about Intellectual Properties, one must
begin by understanding the meaning of several key words or expressions.
Otherwise, the subject risks remaining a tangled web of contradictions and
incoherence. In order to help the reader familiarize himself with the meaning of
such key words and principles, the following text provides an answer for each of
the 10 most frequently encountered questions in the realm of Intellectual
Properties.
These questions constitute a logical approach aimed at demystifying the subject.
1) Question : What is an Intellectual Property?
Answer: An Intellectual Property
is a creative work, which is naturally owned by its author.
2) Question: What is the field of Intellectual Properties?
Answer: The field of
Intellectual Properties entails the progressive application of commercial, legal
and judiciary rules that define the laws governing human creation, invention and
innovation.
3) Question : What is the difference between creation, invention and
innovation?
Answer:
Creation, from create: to bring an innovative concept into existence –
mentally forming an original idea or concept, one that did not exist previously,
and transforming its virtual form into a tangible one; a tangible result of human
creative intuition; a creative work – a work of the mind.
Invention: the act or process of inventing; ii) from invent: to find or discover (from
its Latin root); iii) a device, contrivance or process originated after study and
experiment (i.e. a discovery process; research and development); iv) an
innovative product or service resulting from the development of an original
concept that was put into tangible form (i.e. the creation).
Innovation, from innovate: to introduce an original product or service (the
invention) into the market.
~ One cannot help but notice that innovation follows invention, which in turn
follows the initial creation. ~ This demonstrates a natural “upstream to
downstream” relationship, much like wine results from grapes. There is a natural
and logical order:
creation invention innovation.
4) Question : How does one determine the true owner of an Intellectual Property?
Answer: Through the proof of authorship of an original concept put into tangible
form (the creation). To determine ownership, one must identify the true author
(the founder and not the finder). The author is the one who expresses his
original concept within a creative work, his natural property.
Why must one establish authorship?
Answer: Because, much like the link
between parents and children, the rules on Intellectual Properties are based on
the principle of anteriority. This is why the validity of a patent depends entirely
on its applicant’s (presumed author) claim to anteriority.
5) Question : Can a patent holder’s (or any inventor) claim to anteriority
automatically establish authorship of his invention, and therefore result in a
copyright?
Answer: No! Even though a patent may constitute original texts and drawings, a
patent does not concern itself with human creativity and can therefore not
provide its holder with a copyright.
Why? Because according to the international conventions on copyrights and
most countries’ national laws, only the author of a creative literary or artistic work
~ a Work of the Mind ~ can claim the one and only true natural copyright. ~ This
legal point is important as it implies that the act of writing sentences or sketching
a technical device does not systematically result in a Work of the Mind.
6) Question : What is a Work of the Mind?
Answer: A Work of the Mind is a
creative labor of art. An excellent copier of labor of art is an artist who does not
create an original work. A work of art that is not creative (not original) is not a
Work of the Mind, because it does not result from a creative intuition. Moreover,
in order for the author to claim the resulting specific and exclusive rights, such a
work must be artistic; the author must follow the techniques and rules that govern
a recognized art, notably, literature or music. Otherwise, the reader, or the
performer, will not comprehend the work.
Once again, this demonstrates that the mere act of writing sentences or drawing shapes or figures does not constitute art, or result in a labor of art, let alone a Work of the Mind.
7) Question : How can the author of an invention claim copyright?
Answer: Through the authorship of a Work of the Mind.
How can an inventor become the author of a Work of the Mind?
Answer: By
creating a literary and/or artistic biographical work that explains the origin and
details his innovative concept.
8) Question : If, like in most cases, the inventor does not master the techniques of
literature and graphic arts, how can he become the author of a Work of the Mind?
Answer: By hiring a ghost writer, who will write his story for him. This service is
provided by editors and publishers around the globe. ~ The International
Consortium of Editions USD-System provides inventors and creators of any
new concept with this service in order to fashion Intellectual Passports CB. The
ghost writer’s (also called Interlitt, or interpreter in literary works) task is to
transcribe the inventor’s story and original concept into a literary text (according
to the rules of the art); similarly, the inventor can independently hire a graphicartist, draftsman, or whoever is necessary to apply his art and/or to illustrate the
inventor’s original concept.
9) Question : What are the benefits of establishing one’s authorship of a creative
work prior to inventing the product or service that follows?
Answer: The benefits
are considerable!
a) Ownership is free of charge; b) It is also non-transferable
(universal and permanent);
c) Copyright results from this universal ownership;
d) Copyright is free of charge and international. It is valid for the author’s lifetime +
50 to 70 years after his death (depending on the country);
e) Copyright provides worldwide and exclusive property;
f) This worldwide exclusive property notably
provides the author with the exclusive right to reproduce © all or part of his work,
without which one cannot make or mould a part of the resulting product, nor can
one transfer operating instructions/user’s manuals or methodologies (marketing
strategies, sales techniques, etc.) to third parties.
10) Question : In comparison with a Work of the Mind, is a patent the property of
its holder?
Answer: No! A Patent (Government/State property) is a title of
monopolistic commercial exploitation that is issued to the presumed author of an
invention (the inventor). It grants a right to a national monopoly of commercial exploitation. It must be purchased nationally; it can then be extended from
country to country, presuming that one has the substantial financial means to do
so. It is also a State-granted privilege that overrides the “free market” principle.
Such a monopoly is only granted on a temporary basis, or twenty years.
This monopoly also imposes the disclosure of the invention, thereby inhibiting
the inventor’s secrecy. A Patent does not provide protection since, in the case of
infringement, it is the patent holder who must defend (or protect) his title in court.
For the most part, only major enterprises can afford to establish, use and defend
the monopoly granted by patents (or other such titles). The total costs
associated with patents are much beyond the means of most small and mediumsized
enterprises, not to mention independent inventors. In contrast, these
entities only need proof of an intellectual property in order to defend and claim
their rights.
