Do I have to register a drawing or a program to own the rights?

No. Copyright follows the Non-Formality Principle: the right exists from the moment the work is created. Registration belongs to the industrial rights — patents, utility models, designs and trademarks.

The composer died long ago. Can I use any recording?

The composition may be free after fifty years, but a particular recording carries the neighbouring rights of its performers and the record company. You need permission for the recording, or you use one that is licensed.

Does a child's drawing have copyright?

Yes. The right arises regardless of whether the creator is an amateur or a minor, and the definition says nothing about the quality of the work.

Lesson 2-2

Intellectual Property Rights

Unit 2 — Regulations and Rights in the Information Society

Information and Communication Technology — Baccalaureate Year 1

Textbook pages pp. 16–19Published

Two families of rights: industrial property, which begins with a registration, and copyright, which begins the moment a work is made — with the periods, and the neighbouring rights that outlive a composer.

Learning objectives

01Define intellectual property rights and name their two main divisions.
02Explain the Formality Principle and name the four industrial property rights, what each protects and its period.
03Explain the Non-Formality Principle and distinguish the creator's moral rights from copyright as a property right.
04Define neighbouring rights and state the copyright protection period.
05Decide whether a use of a work is an infringement, using permission, the fifty-year rule and neighbouring rights.

Summary

Intellectual property rights protect creations and ideas that come from human intellectual activity, and they divide in two. Industrial property rights relate to the manufacture of industrial or commercial products, and they come into effect only once an application is filed with and registered by the Egypt Patent Office. That is the Formality Principle, and it is the half of the lesson that runs on dates and paperwork.

Four industrial rights, each with what it protects and how long it lasts. Patent rights: advanced technological ideas and inventions, twenty years from the application. Utility model rights: the shape or structure of a product, seven years. Design rights: a design such as the shape and patterns of a product, ten years, renewed once every five. Trademark rights: product names, logos, text and sound, ten years from registration, updated — which is why a trademark can outlive a patent by decades.

Copyright is the other family: rights over creative activity in the arts — novels, films, paintings, photographs, music, computer programs. It follows the Non-Formality Principle: the right is established at the moment the work is created, regardless of whether the creator is an amateur or a minor. Nothing is filed, nothing is registered, and nothing in the definition mentions the quality of the work. Copyright itself has two sides: the moral rights of the creator, which protect the creator's personality and bond with the work, and copyright as a property right, which can be transferred.

Two rules decide most exam questions. The economic rights expire fifty years after the creator's death — so a very old composition is free. But performers and record companies hold neighbouring rights in a particular recording, so the recording is not. And free distribution is permission to receive, not permission to reproduce and sell; downloading while knowing the upload was illegal is an infringement whatever the use.

Key terms

Intellectual property rights: Rights protecting creations and ideas generated by human intellectual activity; divided mainly into industrial property rights and copyright.
Formality Principle: An industrial property right comes into effect once the application is filed and registered — no registration, no right.
Patent rights: Rights over advanced technological ideas and inventions; twenty years from the application.
Utility model rights: Rights over the shape or structure of a product; seven years from the application.
Design rights: Rights over a design — the shape and patterns of a product; ten years, renewed once every five.
Trademark rights: Rights over product names, logos, text and sound; ten years from registration, and updated, so they can continue indefinitely.
Non-Formality Principle: Copyright is established at the moment the work is created, regardless of whether the creator is an amateur or a minor.
Neighbouring rights: Rights of those who convey a work to the public — performers and record companies — which is why an old composition can be free while a recording of it is not.

Sample questions

01A workshop invents a new locking mechanism, a distinctive pattern on the product and a brand name. Match each to its right and give the protection period.Understand
02A student uses a recent orchestral recording of a composer who died a century ago, saying the music belongs to everyone. Explain what is free here and what is not, and name the rights involved.Analyse
03A club prints a free e-book and sells copies at cost, arguing that the book is free and nobody profits. Judge that argument using the rule on using a work without permission.Evaluate

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