Related rights
Encyclopedia
Related rights is a term in copyright
law, used in opposition to the term "authors' rights
". The term neighbouring rights is exactly equivalent, and is a more literal translation of the original French
droits voisins. Related rights in civil law
are similar to authors' rights, but are not connected with the work's actual author. Both authors' rights and related rights are copyright
s in the sense of English or U.S. law.
There is no single definition of related rights, which vary much more widely in scope between different countries than authors' rights. The rights of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations are certainly covered, and are internationally protected by the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations signed in 1961.
Within the European Union
, the rights of film producers (as opposed to directors) and database creators are also protected by related rights, and the term is sometimes extended to include the sui generis
rights in semiconductor topologies and other industrial design rights
. A practical definition is that related rights are copyright-type rights that are not covered by the Berne Convention
.
Apart from the TRIPS Agreement, these treaties cannot truly be described as global: the Rome Convention had 83 signatories as of 2006, compared with 162 for the Berne Convention.
Performers' rights should not be confused with performing rights
, which are the royalties
due to the composer
for a piece of music under copyright in return for the licence (permission) to perform the piece in public. In other words, performers must pay performing rights to composers. Under the Rome Convention (Art. 7), performers have the right to prevent:
The WPPT extends these rights to include the right to licence:
Article 14 of the Rome Convention set a minimum term for the protection of performers' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the performance was made: the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5) has extended this to fifty years. In the European Union
, performers' rights last for fifty years from the end of the year of the performance, unless a recording of the performance was published in which case they last for fifty years from the end of the year of publication (Art. 3(1), Directive 93/98/EEC).
, it must be composed exclusively of a sound recording, although some national laws protect film soundtracks with the same measures to the extent that they are not also protected by other rights. The producers of phonograms, that is the person who makes the recording rather than the person who performs, has the right to prevent the direct or indirect reproduction of the recording (Art. 10 Rome Convention, Art. 2 Geneva Phonograms Convention). The WPPT adds the rights to licence:
Once a phonogram has been published, the producer cannot prevent its broadcast: an equitable fee for the licence may be either agreed between phonogram producers and broadcasters or imposed by law.
The Rome and Geneva Phonograms Conventions specify a maximum level of formality required for protection of the phonogram (Art. 11 Rome; Art. 5 Geneva): countries are free to set a lower level, or not to require formalities at all. The maximum conditions are that each copy of the phonogram should be clearly marked with:
Countries signing the WPPT shall not require any formality for the protection of producers' rights.
The Conventions (Art. 14 Rome; Art. 4 Geneva) set a minimum term of protection of producers' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the phonogram was first published (or from its creation for unpublished recordings): the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5) extended this minimum to fifty years from the end of the year in which the recording was made. The term of protection in the European Union
is fifty years from the end of the year in which the phonogram was first published, or from the end of the year of its creation for unpublished recordings (Art. 3(2), Directive 93/98/EEC).
For phonograms recorded in the United States
the situation is more complicated:
Article 14 of the Rome Convention sets a minimum term for the protection of broadcasters' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the broadcast was first made, confirmed by the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5). However, the Rome Convention is limited to broadcasts intended for the public [Art. 3(f)]: the Brussels Convention closes this loophole by providing for protection of satellite broadcasts not intended for direct public reception. In the European Union
, broadcasters' rights last for fifty years from the end of the year the broadcast was first made (Art. 3(4), Directive 93/98/EEC).
. These rights, similar to the rights of phonogram producers, are especially important in Europe, where the producer is not usually the initial owner of the copyright in the film itself. Film producers have the right to prevent:
These rights last for fifty years from the end of the year the film was first published or otherwise made available to the public, or for fifty years from the end of the year the master copy was made if the film is not released (Art. 3(3), Directive 93/98/EEC).
protection in the European Union
for database
s that do not meet the criterion of originality for copyright protection. This is particularly important for databases that aim to be complete, as these lack the element of selection that might qualify them for protection as "compilations" under Article 2.5 of the Berne Convention (although their arrangement can still be considered creative). It is specifically intended to protect "the investment of considerable human, technical and financial resources" in creating databases (para. 7 of the preamble), whereas the copyright laws of many Member States specifically exclude effort and labour from the criteria for copyright protection. To qualify, the database must show "qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents" [Art. 7(1)]. Their creators have the right "to prevent extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that database." This is taken to include the repeated extraction of insubstantial parts of the contents if this conflicts with the normal exploitation of the database or unreasonably prejudices the legitimate interests of the creator of the database [Art. 7(5)].
Database rights last for fifteen years from completion of the database (the point when the criterion of substantial investment is fulfilled), or from *the date when the database is publicly available, whichever is later. The protection period runs until 31 December of the year when it expires. If there is a "substantial change" in the database that qualifies as a "substantial new investment", a new protection period is granted (Art. 10).
and database rights
. Similar debates occurred over the copyright protection of photographs. The Berne Convention
allows a shorter period of protection than for other works (twenty-five years from creation rather than fifty years post mortem auctoris, Art. 7.4), and many countries apply a different period of copyright protection to photographs than to other works. An alternative approach, adopted notably by Germany
and Italy
, has been to offer full copyright protection to photographs that are clearly "artistic works" and protect all photographs, whatever their creative value, by a shorter sui generis
related right. This focuses the debate on those photographs that still have value at the end of the sui generis protection (no-one would bother to try to protect photographs without value), which are the photographs most likely original. However it also means that photographs are subject to a higher test of originality than other works of art, with copyright being reserved only for those the courts felt to be particularly meritous, in contravention of the spirit (if not the letter) of the Berne Convention. The sui generis protections are found at § 72, UrhG for Germany (50 years) and Arts. 87–92, Legge 22 aprile 1941 n. 633 for Italy (20 years). The different treatment of photographs and other artistic works was eliminated by European Union
Directive 93/98/EEC (Art. 6), which states that the only applicable criterion for copyright protection is that the photograph be "original in the sense that they are the author's own intellectual creation", a lower criterion than used up until then, but equivalent to the criterion used for other copyright works. The sui generis protection may be retained for photographs that do not meet this criterion (e.g., photographs taken automatically such as for a passport).
law: they are sometimes considered to be industrial property and sometimes a related right to copyright. The Berne Convention requires the protection of "applied art", but allows a shorter protection period of twenty-five years after creation. Although it requires protection to the same minimum standards as for copyright, the Convention does not require that the protection be called "copyright", a fact used by many countries to protect applied art and certain artistic designs by a related design right. In countries where applied art can be protected by normal copyright term (e.g., Germany
), an extremely high level of originality and creatlivity is demanded.
Insofar as designs are considered to be industrial property, their international protection falls under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
.
of semiconductor
materials, particularly integrated circuit
s. These are protected internationally by the IPIC Treaty of 1989, and in the European Union
by Directive 87/54/EEC. The reproduction of a protected topography is prohibited, as is the import of infringing materials (Art. 5). Protected topographies may be identified by a capital T in a variety of forms, including T* (Art. 9). The exclusive rights of the designer last for ten years from the first commercial exploitation, or for fifteen years from the first creation for topographies that are not exploited (Art. 7).
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
law, used in opposition to the term "authors' rights
Authors' rights
Authors’ rights are a part of copyright law. The term is a direct translation of the French term droit d’auteur , and is generally used in relation to the copyright laws of civil law countries and in European Union law...
". The term neighbouring rights is exactly equivalent, and is a more literal translation of the original French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
droits voisins. Related rights in civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
are similar to authors' rights, but are not connected with the work's actual author. Both authors' rights and related rights are copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s in the sense of English or U.S. law.
There is no single definition of related rights, which vary much more widely in scope between different countries than authors' rights. The rights of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations are certainly covered, and are internationally protected by the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations signed in 1961.
Within the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the rights of film producers (as opposed to directors) and database creators are also protected by related rights, and the term is sometimes extended to include the sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
rights in semiconductor topologies and other industrial design rights
Industrial design rights
An industrial design right is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three...
. A practical definition is that related rights are copyright-type rights that are not covered by the Berne Convention
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886.- Content :...
.
International protection of related rights
Apart from the Rome convention, a number of other treaties address the protection of related rights:- Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (Geneva Phonograms Convention, 1971)
- Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme–Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (Brussels Convention, 1974)
- Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (IPIC Treaty, 1989)
- Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property RightsAgreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property RightsThe Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members...
(TRIPS, 1994) - WIPO Performances and Phonograms TreatyWIPO Performances and Phonograms TreatyThe WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty is an international treaty signed by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization was adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996...
(WPPT, 1996)
Apart from the TRIPS Agreement, these treaties cannot truly be described as global: the Rome Convention had 83 signatories as of 2006, compared with 162 for the Berne Convention.
Relation to authors' rights
Related rights are independent of any authors' rights, as is made clear in the various treaties (Art. 1 Rome; Art. 7.1 Geneva; Art. 1.2 WPPT). Hence a CD recording of a song is concurrently protected by four copyright-type rights:- Authors' rights of the composer of the music
- Authors' rights of the lyricist
- Performers' rights of the singer and musicians
- Producers' rights of the person or corporation that made the recording
Performers
The protection of performers is perhaps the strongest and most unified of the related rights. A performer (musician, actor, etc.) has an intellectual input in their performance over and above that of the author of the work. As such, many countries grant moral rights to performers as well as the economic rights covered by the Rome Convention (Arts. 7–9), and the rights of paternity and integrity are required by the WPPT (Art. 5).Performers' rights should not be confused with performing rights
Performing rights
Performing rights are the right to perform music in public. It is part of copyright law and demands payment to the music’s composer/lyricist and publisher . Public performance means that a musician or group who is not the copyright holder is performing a piece of music live, as opposed to the...
, which are the royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
due to the composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
for a piece of music under copyright in return for the licence (permission) to perform the piece in public. In other words, performers must pay performing rights to composers. Under the Rome Convention (Art. 7), performers have the right to prevent:
- the broadcast or communication to the public of their performance, unless this is made from a legally published recording of the performance;
- the fixation (recording) of their performance;
- the reproduction of a recording of their performance.
The WPPT extends these rights to include the right to licence:
- the distribution of recordings of their performance, for sale or other transfer of ownership (Art. 8);
- the rental of recordings of their performances, unless there is a compulsory licence scheme in operation (Art. 9);
- the "making available to the public" of their performances (Art. 10), in effect their publication on the internet.
Article 14 of the Rome Convention set a minimum term for the protection of performers' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the performance was made: the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5) has extended this to fifty years. In the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, performers' rights last for fifty years from the end of the year of the performance, unless a recording of the performance was published in which case they last for fifty years from the end of the year of publication (Art. 3(1), Directive 93/98/EEC).
Phonogram producers
The term phonogram is used to refer to any sound recording: under the Rome ConventionRome Convention
The Rome Convention may refer to one of the following conventions:* Rome Convention of 1980 on contractual obligations* Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations...
, it must be composed exclusively of a sound recording, although some national laws protect film soundtracks with the same measures to the extent that they are not also protected by other rights. The producers of phonograms, that is the person who makes the recording rather than the person who performs, has the right to prevent the direct or indirect reproduction of the recording (Art. 10 Rome Convention, Art. 2 Geneva Phonograms Convention). The WPPT adds the rights to licence:
- the distribution of their phonograms, for sale or other transfer of ownership (Art. 12);
- the rental of their phonograms, unless there is a compulsory licence scheme in operation (Art. 13);
- the "making available to the public" of their phonograms (Art. 14), in effect their publication on the internet.
Once a phonogram has been published, the producer cannot prevent its broadcast: an equitable fee for the licence may be either agreed between phonogram producers and broadcasters or imposed by law.
The Rome and Geneva Phonograms Conventions specify a maximum level of formality required for protection of the phonogram (Art. 11 Rome; Art. 5 Geneva): countries are free to set a lower level, or not to require formalities at all. The maximum conditions are that each copy of the phonogram should be clearly marked with:
- the symbol (P), that is a capital P within a circle; followed by
- the year of first publication;
- the name of the owner or exclusive licensee of the producers' rights;
- for Rome Convention countries only, the name of the person who owns (the licence in) the performers' rights in the country where the recording was made.
Countries signing the WPPT shall not require any formality for the protection of producers' rights.
The Conventions (Art. 14 Rome; Art. 4 Geneva) set a minimum term of protection of producers' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the phonogram was first published (or from its creation for unpublished recordings): the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5) extended this minimum to fifty years from the end of the year in which the recording was made. The term of protection in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
is fifty years from the end of the year in which the phonogram was first published, or from the end of the year of its creation for unpublished recordings (Art. 3(2), Directive 93/98/EEC).
For phonograms recorded in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the situation is more complicated:
- recordings made before 1972-02-15: these are covered by state, not federal, copyright law, although all rights will end on 2067-02-15 at the latest [17 U.S.C. §301(c)];
- recordings made between 1972-02-15 and 1977-12-31 and published: ninety-five years from the date of publication [17 U.S.C. §303(a)];
- recordings made and published on or after 1978-01-01: ninety-five years after the date of recording if the recording was made "for hireWork for hireA work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...
", seventy years after the death of the producer otherwise [17 U.S.C. §302(a), (c)]; - recordings made on or after 1972-02-15 and unpublished: 120 years after the date of recording if the recording was made "for hireWork for hireA work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...
", seventy years after the death of the producer otherwise [17 U.S.C. §302(a), (c)].
Broadcasting organisations
Article 13 of the Rome Convention specifies that broadcasting organisations shall have the right to prohibit (or licence):- the rebroadcasting of their broadcasts;
- the fixation (recording) of their broadcasts;
- the reproduction of fixations of their broadcasts;
- the communication of their broadcasts to the public in places where an entrance fee is charged.
Article 14 of the Rome Convention sets a minimum term for the protection of broadcasters' rights of twenty years from the end of the year in which the broadcast was first made, confirmed by the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 14.5). However, the Rome Convention is limited to broadcasts intended for the public [Art. 3(f)]: the Brussels Convention closes this loophole by providing for protection of satellite broadcasts not intended for direct public reception. In the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, broadcasters' rights last for fifty years from the end of the year the broadcast was first made (Art. 3(4), Directive 93/98/EEC).
Film producers
Directive 2006/115/EC and Directive 2001/29/EC provide rights to producers of the first fixation ("master copy") of a film or other audiovisual work under European Union lawCopyright law of the European Union
The copyright law of the European Union has arisen in an attempt to harmonise the differing copyright laws of European Union member states. It consists of a number of directives, which the member states are obliged to enact into their national laws, and by the judgments of the Court of Justice of...
. These rights, similar to the rights of phonogram producers, are especially important in Europe, where the producer is not usually the initial owner of the copyright in the film itself. Film producers have the right to prevent:
- the direct or indirect reproduction of the film (either the master copy or copies thereof) (Art. 2, Directive 2001/29/EC);
- the distribution of the film (or copies thereof) to the public for sale (Art. 9, Directive 92/100/EEC);
- the "making available to the public" of the film (Art 3, Directive 2001/29/EC).
These rights last for fifty years from the end of the year the film was first published or otherwise made available to the public, or for fifty years from the end of the year the master copy was made if the film is not released (Art. 3(3), Directive 93/98/EEC).
Database creators
Directive 96/9/EC creates a sui generisSui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
protection in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
for database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s that do not meet the criterion of originality for copyright protection. This is particularly important for databases that aim to be complete, as these lack the element of selection that might qualify them for protection as "compilations" under Article 2.5 of the Berne Convention (although their arrangement can still be considered creative). It is specifically intended to protect "the investment of considerable human, technical and financial resources" in creating databases (para. 7 of the preamble), whereas the copyright laws of many Member States specifically exclude effort and labour from the criteria for copyright protection. To qualify, the database must show "qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents" [Art. 7(1)]. Their creators have the right "to prevent extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that database." This is taken to include the repeated extraction of insubstantial parts of the contents if this conflicts with the normal exploitation of the database or unreasonably prejudices the legitimate interests of the creator of the database [Art. 7(5)].
Database rights last for fifteen years from completion of the database (the point when the criterion of substantial investment is fulfilled), or from *the date when the database is publicly available, whichever is later. The protection period runs until 31 December of the year when it expires. If there is a "substantial change" in the database that qualifies as a "substantial new investment", a new protection period is granted (Art. 10).
Photographers
Each new technology for creative work has led to debate over what protection should be accorded to such works, as has been the case most recently for software copyrightSoftware copyright
Software copyright is the extension of copyright law to machine-readable software. While many of the legal principles and policy debates concerning software copyright have close parallels in other domains of copyright law, there are a number of distinctive issues that arise with software...
and database rights
Database rights
In European Union law, database rights are specifically coded laws on the copying and dissemination of information in computer databases...
. Similar debates occurred over the copyright protection of photographs. The Berne Convention
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886.- Content :...
allows a shorter period of protection than for other works (twenty-five years from creation rather than fifty years post mortem auctoris, Art. 7.4), and many countries apply a different period of copyright protection to photographs than to other works. An alternative approach, adopted notably by Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, has been to offer full copyright protection to photographs that are clearly "artistic works" and protect all photographs, whatever their creative value, by a shorter sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
related right. This focuses the debate on those photographs that still have value at the end of the sui generis protection (no-one would bother to try to protect photographs without value), which are the photographs most likely original. However it also means that photographs are subject to a higher test of originality than other works of art, with copyright being reserved only for those the courts felt to be particularly meritous, in contravention of the spirit (if not the letter) of the Berne Convention. The sui generis protections are found at § 72, UrhG for Germany (50 years) and Arts. 87–92, Legge 22 aprile 1941 n. 633 for Italy (20 years). The different treatment of photographs and other artistic works was eliminated by European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
Directive 93/98/EEC (Art. 6), which states that the only applicable criterion for copyright protection is that the photograph be "original in the sense that they are the author's own intellectual creation", a lower criterion than used up until then, but equivalent to the criterion used for other copyright works. The sui generis protection may be retained for photographs that do not meet this criterion (e.g., photographs taken automatically such as for a passport).
Designers
Design rights fall between copyright and patentPatent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
law: they are sometimes considered to be industrial property and sometimes a related right to copyright. The Berne Convention requires the protection of "applied art", but allows a shorter protection period of twenty-five years after creation. Although it requires protection to the same minimum standards as for copyright, the Convention does not require that the protection be called "copyright", a fact used by many countries to protect applied art and certain artistic designs by a related design right. In countries where applied art can be protected by normal copyright term (e.g., Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), an extremely high level of originality and creatlivity is demanded.
Insofar as designs are considered to be industrial property, their international protection falls under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property...
.
Semiconductor designers
A common sui generis design right protects the design or topographyTopography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
of semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
materials, particularly integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s. These are protected internationally by the IPIC Treaty of 1989, and in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
by Directive 87/54/EEC. The reproduction of a protected topography is prohibited, as is the import of infringing materials (Art. 5). Protected topographies may be identified by a capital T in a variety of forms, including T* (Art. 9). The exclusive rights of the designer last for ten years from the first commercial exploitation, or for fifteen years from the first creation for topographies that are not exploited (Art. 7).