Protection for Intellectual Property and Dignity

WARNING: this section (and the institution of ``intellectual property'') is grossly obsolete.   It is to be replaced with a bid system described in the to-do list.   Patents and copyrights no longer exist in this implementation of an Innovist legal system.   Trademarks are certainly fixtures, however.

=====

Within this section, "public" means available on an anonymous basis.

The state works to facilitate to creators legally binding guarantees that they can reap financial rewards from their creations.   To this end, five registries are maintained: an invention registry, according to which novel techniques are protected; a formulation registry, according to which particular assemblages of techniques are protected; a layout registry, according to which particular visual, tactile/ ergonomic, or auditory layouts are protected; a verbalization registry, according to which particular encapsulable creative instantiations are protected; and a trade and service mark registry, according to which marketing names and symbols are protected.

All five registries operate on a first-come-first-served basis, but all five also allow for demonstration of prior invention/use.   Except for trademarks, in the case that prior invention/use is proved, either summarily or in court, the ownership of the intellectual property is assigned to he who has proved prior invention/use, but the previously registered owner can continue to use and sell the intellectual property without fee or curtailment.   Trademarks are strictly first-applied-first-and-last-granted.

Invention protection is not domain-specific.   That is, rights to an invention initially granted for use in one industry covers use of the technique in any industry.

An invention is protected only from uses which negatively impact the potential for use-based revenue of the inventor.   Thus, discussion and description of the invention, and use of the invention for a purpose which does not generate financial revenue (research and experimentation, hobbyist or recreational use, etc.) require neither permission nor payment of a fee.   Other use of the invention does require permission (which the inventor can, of course, grant on a blanket basis at his discretion).

If invention law is invoked to protect an invention, a creator agrees to license the invention on demand without discretion.   He cannot withhold licensing for any reason.   Furthermore, the state specifies a maximum fee schedule specific to the particular invention, and the inventor cannot demand a fee beyond the upper bounds specified therein.   Only unit fees can be levied; no initiation fee is allowed.   The state can base the maximum fee only on the expected market potential of the invention, and is required to increase the fee upper bound if the market demonstrates substantial willingness to pay the current maximum licensing fee.

In order for an invention to be protected, it has to be substantially different in its effects of technological, economic, and/or creative empowerment from those of any invention already registered.   Thus, incremental variations on a technique which has at any time been registered (whether or not the protection is still in force), cannot themselves be registered, and are in fact covered by the original invention.

The entire contents of the invention registry are to be published. The registry is to be arranged as a logical subject hierarchy, so that searches can be performed quickly.

A formulation is a particular arrangement of logical functioning components.   Formulations are protected in the same way as inventions, except that they are domain-specific.

The protection of a layout can be guaranteed by law on a limited basis.   A layout is a particular combination of geometric arrangement, typography, color choice, or other specific patterns of visual, tactile/ergonomic, and/or auditory arrangement.   In order for a layout to enjoy protection, it must be sufficiently idiosyncratic that its protection will not impede the development of the layouts of other creations.   more to the point, the latitude of the protection is narrow such that only those aspects of the appearance which are sufficiently idiosyncratic are protected.   In applying for protection for a layout, its creator must specify exactly those aspects of the layout for which he is seeking protection.

Licensing of a layout is entirely at the discretion of the owner of the layout.

Domains are not relevant to verbalizations.   Instead, a verbalization is protected as a particular expression (playing on any combination of the human perceptual senses, and interactive or not) of a linguistic, narrative, or expositional/explanatory character.   This expression may be in any language, human or otherwise.   The expression, any substantial portion thereof, and any derivation directly therefrom, is protected.

A work need not be published to enjoy verbalization protection.

It, and portions and derivations thereof, may be licensed entirely at the discretion of the owner.   Small excerpts (less than 1%, or less than 1000 words, whichever is less) of the words or images contained in protected material, and retelling of factual information derived from protected material, do not require the permission of the owner(s) or payment of any fees, but do require notification of the owner(s).

Trademarks and servicemarks protect brief linguistic, visual, or auditory, identifiers used in marketing.   They protect the owner only from misrepresentation of another's product through use of the trade or servicemark.   No other protection is provided for marks.   A mark is protected from deliberate infringement by a substantially similar mark.   Marks can be either domain-specific or non-specific.

The terms associated with each of the registries are as follows:
  inventions: 15 years, non-renewable
  formulations: 25 years, non-renewable
  layouts: 50 years, indefinitely renewable
  verbalizations: 50 years, indefinitely renewable
  trademarks: 10 years, indefinitely renewable

Each license for use of a work protected in any of the five registries must identify the licensee, the work at issue uniquely by name, creator(s), and description, and must enumerate the mode(s) of usage being licensed.

The ownership of a work rests uniquely with its creator(s).   No contract can stipulate a transfer, waiver, or agreement to not assert the rights of creation, herein enumerated.

The right of the creator to demand the perpetual dignity of his creations (formulations, layouts, and verbalizations) cannot be infringed, waived, assigned, or abandoned.   By this right, the creator can prevent the use, sale, and/or display of a version of his creation constitutionally modified in any way.   Should a court determine that the creator's claim is viable, the offender is bound to rectify.   If the offender fails to do so within a period of 14 days, the creator can use any means available to him to suitably alter or eliminate the offending item.

The creator of a work (a formulation, a layout, or a verbalization) furthermore has a perpetual and inviolable right to have his name appear with his works at his request.

The remainder of this section applies only to verbalizations, and does not apply to inventions, formulations, layouts, or trademarks.

The owner of a work protected by verbalization rights can offer licenses for use and replay of that work according to a contract of his own specification.   Such contract must constrain the licensee to maintain the confidence of the work at issue to a degree sufficient to deny to non-licenseholders access to the principal virtues of the work.

If the assent or intent of all the creator(s) is recorded that such be done (i.e.   a license identifying the public at large as the licensee), a work that is published by display, broadcast, or dissemination in any way which precludes identification and contractual binding of the recipient, is no longer owned.

A work cannot be held that is neither accompanied by a proper signature by the author[s] identifying the licensee, nor accompanied by a signature by the author[s] identifying the public at large as the licensee (an abandonment of ownership), nor associated with a signature by the author[s] published elsewhere identifying the public at large as the licensee.

No work is to be considered ever to be in the public domain.   All works are perpetually within the domain of their creators, except that this domain is transferred by will or default only upon death of the current arbiter of the domain.   By default, the domain is assigned in full to the surviving mentally competent spouse, eldest mentally competent child, or closest surviving mentally competent relative, in order of preference.

The improper introduction into a public arena of a work demands restitution by the offender, when possible, and always results in the issuance of an announcement (at the expense of the offender) in the same arena that the introduction was improper.   Specifically, a work can be assured to have been legitimately introduced to a public arena only when it includes a notice of abandonment of ownership properly signed by the creator.   Introduction of a work into a public arena for purposes of encouraging or realizing financial gain must be accompanied by a signed notice of abandonment.   The lack of such a signature does not alone comprise sufficient grounds to argue that a ownership of a work introduced into a public arena is not abandoned, or that the work is unlawfully held by a recipient.

Thus, ownership of a verbalization can be abandoned, but authorship cannot.



previous section "The Contract"

next section "Right of Enterprise"

back to index for this chapter ("Commerce")

back to top-level index



Send email to me at douzzer@mega.nu

Site Search


This is a preliminary draft. Pending changes are in The To-Do List