Intellectual Property and Cyber Law Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The statement reflects the Utilitarian theory of IPR.

The utilitarian theory, associated with Bentham and Mill and with modern economic analysis, justifies intellectual property by its consequences: granting creators exclusive rights gives them an incentive to create, and the resulting inventions and works benefit society as a whole. The stress on the benefit to society is what marks it out.

The natural right (Lockean labour) theory says creators deserve their works because of their labour, the personhood theory (Hegel) that works express the creator's personality, and reward theories focus on what the individual creator deserves, not on the general good.

Answer: B

The principle not agreed in the Berne Convention is the principle of protection to original creator.

The Berne Convention rests on three basic principles: national treatment (works from one member state get the same protection in others as their own nationals' works), automatic protection (no registration or other formality is needed), and independence of protection (protection does not depend on protection in the country of origin).

'Protection to original creator' is not one of these named principles, so it is the exception.

Answer: D

The statement represents the personhood theory of IPR.

The personhood theory, drawn from Hegel and developed by Margaret Radin, holds that property is needed for the development and expression of the personality. Creative works embody the creator's personality, so intellectual property rights protect that extension of the self into material things; this underlies moral rights such as the right of attribution and integrity.

The utilitarian theory justifies IPR as an incentive to create for the general good, the natural rights (labour) theory as the reward of one's labour, following Locke, and reward theories as fair return for effort, none of which rests on personality.

Answer: A

Copyright was not a subject of the Paris Convention.

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) covers industrial property: patents, utility models, industrial designs, trade marks, service marks, trade names, indications of source and the repression of unfair competition.

Copyright in literary and artistic works is dealt with by the separate Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (1886). Patents, trade marks and utility models are all within the Paris Convention.

Answer: A

The correct match is (a)-(4), (b)-(1), (c)-(2), (d)-(3).

• The personhood theory, from Hegel, sees property, including intellectual property, as an extension of the personality (4).
• The natural rights theory, from Locke's labour theory, says the creator has a natural right to the fruits of his intellectual labour (1).
• The utilitarian theory justifies IPR as an incentive that brings progress and benefit to society as a whole (2).
• The ethic and reward theory demands a fair and proportional reward for the creator's contribution to social utility (3).

Option C swaps the natural rights and utilitarian descriptions, and options B and D misplace the personhood theory.

Answer: B

The treaty is the WPPT.

The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, adopted in 1996, protects the rights of performers (actors, singers, musicians) and producers of phonograms, especially in the digital environment, for example the right of making available on demand. It was adopted alongside the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and together they are called the WIPO 'Internet treaties'.

The WCT protects authors of literary and artistic works, such as computer programs and databases, not performers and phonogram producers. UNCITRAL is the UN Commission on International Trade Law, and 'PTC' is not a WIPO treaty for these rights.

Answer: A

National treatment means the member nation shall accord to the nationals of the other members treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its own nationals with regards to the protection of IPR.

Article 3 of the TRIPS Agreement, following the Paris and Berne Conventions, requires each member to give other members' nationals treatment no less favourable than it gives its own nationals in protecting intellectual property. It forbids discrimination between foreigners and locals.

The second option speaks only of a state's own nationals. The third and fourth garble the idea, confusing it with the minimum standards of the conventions or with WIPO, and with most-favoured-nation treatment, which is about equal treatment among foreign members.

Answer: B

The statement represents the Natural Right theory of IPR.

The natural rights theory, drawn from John Locke's labour theory of property, holds that a person who mixes his labour with something makes it his own, so an author or inventor has a natural right to the fruits of intellectual labour. The statement says exactly this.

The utilitarian theory justifies IP as an incentive to create for the benefit of society. The reward theory treats IP as a fair reward for useful work, and the personhood theory (Hegel) sees creations as extensions of the creator's personality.

Answer: A

The statutes are regarded as the origin of copyright and patent, so only (i) and (ii) are correct.

The Statute of Anne, 1710 was the first copyright statute, giving authors rather than printers the exclusive right to print their books for a limited term. The Statute of Monopolies, 1623 abolished most royal monopolies but kept them for new inventions for a limited period, which became the basis of patent law.

Designs and trademarks were protected by later legislation in the nineteenth century, and geographical indications are a much more recent form of protection.

Answer: B

The answer is only (i), (iii) and (iv) are correct.

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was concluded in 1883 (iv), protects industrial property such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications (iii), and was followed in 1886 by the Berne Convention on literary and artistic works (i).

Statement (ii) is wrong: the Paris Convention has 30 articles, not 55. That rules out options naming (ii), and those naming only (i) or only (iv) are incomplete.