The Answer to Limitation of Intellectual Property Law 02/24/12

        The first time I talked about intellectual property on my blog, I didn't went over my understanding of intellectual property's limitation due to first, not knowing what is intellectual property thoroughly, second, I had to understand what forms there are on intellectual property. On the other hand, now I know, not all but mostly, of intellectual property and I believe I can now explain and describe some of limitation imposed upon intellectual property law.

      The first limitation is the exclusion from copyright protection of certain categories of works. In some countries, works are excluded from protection if they are not fixed in tangible form: meaning, a work of choreography would only be protected once the movements were written down in dance notation or recorded on videotape. In addition, in certain countries court and administrative decisions are excluded from copyright protection.
      The second category of limitations concerns particular acts of exploitation, normally requiring the authorization of the rights owner, which may, under circumstances specified in the law, be carried out without authorization. There are two basic types of limitations in this category; first is free use, which carries no obligation to compensate the rights owner for the use of his work without authorization. Second, non-voluntary licenses, which do require that compensation be paid to the rights owner for non-authorized exploitation.

Examples of free use:

• quoting from a protected work, provided that the source of the quotation and the name of the author is mentioned, and that the extent of the quotation is compatible with fair practice;
• use of works by way of illustration for teaching purposes
• use of works for the purpose of news reporting.

      In addition to the specific categories of free use set out in national laws, the laws of some countries recognize the concept known as fair use or fair dealing. This allows use of works without the authorization of the rights owner: including whether it is for commercial purposes, the nature of the work used; the amount of the work used in relation to the work as a whole, and the likely effect of the use on the potential commercial value of the work.
      Non-voluntary licenses allow use of works in certain circumstances without the authorization of the owner of rights, but require that compensation be paid in respect of the use. Such licenses are called non-voluntary because they are allowed in the law, and do not result from the exercise of the exclusive right of the copyright owner to authorize particular acts. Non-voluntary licenses were usually created in circumstances where a new technology for the dissemination of works to the public had emerged, and where the national legislator feared that rights owners would prevent the development of the new technology by refusing to authorize use of works. This was true of two non-voluntary licenses recognized in the Berne Convention, which allow the mechanical reproduction of musical works and broadcasting.
      This part confused me very much because I didn't quite understand this works. Therefore, I am planning on doing some more research in this area and explain next week! I have my viewers understood some of the limitations on intellectual property and its forms.