INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT & FAIR USE

What is INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? First, let’s think about the meaning of the word property. Property is something you own. It has value. You can sell it for money.

An example of property is a house. Or, land, jewelry, a car. No. Property can also be something “non-tangible” or untouchable. But, is property only something you can see or touch?

An example of a non- tangible property is a design for a new kind of car, one that uses solar power instead of petrol. We mean not the physical car but the IDEA of the car. The designer owns the IDEA of the car. We call this INTELLECTUCAL PROPERTY. The owner can sell the idea to a company that makes cars.

Another kind of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY is the written word, scientific writing or creative fiction. Authors make their living and support their families by their writing. Authors can sell their words to a publishing company. Authors’ words are considered their property and are protected by laws called COPYRIGHT.

COPYRIGHT protects authors from “piracy” or someone stealing their words and making money that should go to the author or the author’s family. If there were no COPYRIGHT, there would be no financial reason for authors to write anything. Many “valuable” ideas would never be explored because authors would have to make a living doing something else.

But, the time period of a COPYRIGHT is not forever. After a number of years, COPYRIGHT expires. Also, there are some exceptions to 100% COPYRIGHT. Not ALL copying or reproduction is prohibited. After COPYRIGHT expires, a work is said to be in the “public domain” and anybody can print the words and sell them.

Students and others can use words and ideas from a work. But, there are some rules about this. If you use the exact words from a book or other source, you must put quotation marks around them and make a Reference List We will learn more about how to do this in the Plug In lessons on In-text Citations and Making a Reference List.

You can also use an author’s idea but not exact words. We call this paraphrasing. We will learn more about this in the Plug In lesson on Paraphrasing.

For the public benefit, some physical copying of a written work is permitted. We call this FAIR USE. Fair Use is sometimes complicated and can vary from country to country. Citation and referencing are always required.

Let’s look at 4 aspects to determine FAIR USE.

The 1 st aspect of FAIR USE deals with the purpose of the use. If the purpose is educational, not commercial to make money, then the use is usually considered fair.

The 2nd aspect of FAIR USE has to do with the nature of the copyrighted work. If the work states scientific facts, then use of the facts is usually considered fair.

The 3 rd aspect of FAIR USE has to do with the amount of the original you want to use. If the amount is a small percentage of the whole, then the use is considered fair.

The 4 th aspect of FAIR USE has to do with the way a use will affect the market value of the original. If a use has little or no effect on the market value, then the use is usually considered fair.

For more information about COPYRIGHT and FAIR USE in the United Arab Emirates, see this website. /documents/UAECopyright.pdf

To review : What someone writes is his or her property just like a house or a car. We call this INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

COPYRIGHT protects an author’s work from being “stolen” or used to make money without their permission.

FAIR USE allows a work to be used for the public good. It has 4 aspects. 1. Purpose of the use 2. Nature of the original work 3. Amount of the original to be used 4. How the use affects the market value of the original

I hope this helps you understand the concepts of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, COPYRIGHT & FAIR USE. Ask your teacher or your friendly librarian if you have any questions.

Thank you for listening.