Intellectual property refers to the property right associated with any creation of the human mind that protects the rights of all authors of any work, whether scientific, artistic, or literary. It also includes industrial property rights, that is, those that have to do with patents, trademarks, or inventions. Despite this, in the United States, intellectual property is in charge of copyright exclusively, while the industrial property is guided by other regulations. Therefore, intellectual property and copyright are used independently.
What Obligation to Have as A User?
Surely, you have wondered on numerous occasions if the content that you produce, copies, or downloads is protected by these copyright laws and what could happen to you if you violate that right, and what obligations you have as a user on the Internet. Copyrights are translated into those rights that creators have over their works, that is, just by creating you become the owner of these rights, which are protected by law and you do not need to carry out any formalities or register the work anywhere.
Your Rights
Within copyright, there are economic and moral rights. The economic rights allow authors of the works to receive financial compensation at the time a third party uses the work without permission. The validity of the same will depend on the different existing legislation, but normally, it respects the life of the author and 70 additional years. While the rights include the possibility that the author of the work may decide if it can be disclosed or used, and in what way or may decide if he wants to be named by his lawful name or use a pseudonym.
As you surely know, any post, text, or image that is found on the internet is owned by someone, and it will not be necessary to carry a watermark to alert you to this situation. Therefore, you must respect all that content that circulates on the internet, learn from it, and see if the information you need carries with it the Creative Commons distinctive, through which you can use the information, otherwise, it is totally forbidden!. However, you should bear in mind that the CCs detail what rights, conditions, or what users can do with the authors’ work.
How to Protect Information on the Internet?
There are several options if you want to protect all the information that you have published or is circulating on the internet and one of them is to register intellectual property, but how? There are three very common ways:
- Official registration in the Intellectual Property Registry – You will have to pay a corresponding fee and it will be governed by the country in which you are.
- Safe Creative – Online platform for the registration of intellectual property that was born with the aim of simplifying the management of copyright. It is free and the form can be filled out online!
- Creative Commons Licenses – If you want to make your creations available to the public through these licenses, you can allow them to be disseminated under the conditions that you decide. Remember that there are different types of licenses, and it will not imply the waiver of your rights as an author.
Conclusion
If your content or product has been violated by someone and you own full copyright, you should see a copyright lawyer like Robin Stoby who specializes in these things. Don’t try to fight this legal battle on your own. You have rights.
