[Eisophca]

I drafted this in the UN forum a while back, but it got bogged down, so I reposted there. I thought someone here might want to take a crack at it:

Quote: RECOGNIZING that the main investment in the creation of intellectual work is not the support needed to display it, but the time or materials spent in conceiving and creating the work;

NOTING that many nations have some sort of copyright law already in place;

SADDENED that these laws can be mutually incompatible, and can fail to protect copyright owners, especially if nations without copyright laws do not respect and enforce the copyright laws of other nations:

1. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution,

a) "intellectual work" as a work in which the physical materials used to represent it make up a minimal part of its value, and in which most of the value is intellectual;

b ) "copyright law" as a law that restricts the distribution of intellectual work;

c) "nation of production" as the nation in which an intellectual work, exactly as it appears in its completion, was first put into tangible form;

d) "tangible form" as a support in which the intellectual work appears in its complete form, with all creative value visible;

2. PRESERVES any and all copyrights applicable in the nation of production of any work in all UN nations, regardless of where it has been distributed;

3. PRESERVES any and all applicable rights given to the copyright holder by national copyright law throughout UN nations;

4. EMPOWERS copyright holders to restrict the nations in which their international work is distributed, especially for the purpose of protecting work from citizens in non-UN nations who are not required to abide by this resolution.[/quote]

[Grosseschnauzer]

A question: Do you intend to get to patents and trademarks as well? All three together are call "Intellectual Property Rights" and that might make the whole proposal "sexier" as far as the UN membership is concerned.

[Eisophca]

GrosseschnauzerJan 25 2006, 03:14 AM A question: Do you intend to get to patents and trademarks as well? All three together are call "Intellectual Property Rights" and that might make the whole proposal "sexier" as far as the UN membership is concerned. [/quote]
Hmm. I thought that one of the reasons for repealing UCPL was that it combined copyright and patent law. I guess we should deal with them separately, but I could do it in this proposal. Trademarks and patents are harder, however, especially the latter, because it's so hard to define and nations have an interest in copying each other's work. I'll give it a shot though. Maybe dividing into a copyright & trademark section and a patent section:

Quote: -PREAMBLE-

The United Nations,

RECOGNIZING that the main investment in the creation of intellectual work is not the support needed to display it, but the time or materials spent in conceiving and creating the work;

NOTING that many nations have some sort of copyright law already in place;

SADDENED that these laws can be mutually incompatible, and can fail to protect copyright owners, especially if nations without copyright laws do not respect and enforce the copyright laws of other nations:

-SECTION I: COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS-

1. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution,

a) "copyrightable work" as a work in which the physical materials used to represent it make up a minimal part of its value, and in which most of the value is intellectual, including trademarks of organizations;

b ) "copyright law" as a law that restricts the distribution of copyrightable work;

c) "nation of production" as the nation in which an intellectual work, exactly as it appears in its completion, was first put into tangible form, or where a trademark first appeared on a product or logo with the applicable trademark notification symbol;

d) "tangible form" as a support in which the copyrightable work appears in its complete form, with all creative value visible;

2. PRESERVES any and all copyrights applicable in the nation of production of any work in all UN nations, regardless of where it has been distributed;

3. PRESERVES any and all applicable rights given to the copyright holder by national copyright law throughout UN nations;

4. EMPOWERS copyright holders to restrict the nations in which their international work is distributed, especially for the purpose of protecting work from citizens in non-UN nations who are not required to abide by this resolution.

-SECTION II: PATENTS-

5. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution, "patent" as a protection by national law of an idea for a product or invention for a limited amount of time, after which the idea becomes free for all to use;

6. CAPS the length of patents at seventy-five years past the initiation of a patent, and

7. URGES nations to set the maximum length at less than twenty-five years;

8. MANDATES that patents only be issued when there is no evidence of the invention being used before or at the time of the patent;

9. CREATES the United Nations Patent Registry (UNPR), which will be entrusted with the sole duty of maintaining a database of all patents possessed by all nations in the United Nations;

10. MANDATES that no idea patented in the UNPR be used in any product or device without consent of the patent holder, but

11. EMPHASIZES that ideas may still be restricted in member nations at the will of the national government, unless this is barred by past or future UN legislation;

12. DECLARES that if two patents are found, at the time of the setup of the UNPR, that cover sufficiently similar material to be called the same patent, the one that was first registered in a national office will be declared the one valid in all UN nations, unless the records are found to not be accurate, in which case the patents will all become null and void;[/quote]

[Groot Gouda]

I think that because of the vast differences between copyright and trademark stuff, it's best to keep them separate.

The first draft still lacks a few important points. Mainly about the creator having copyright automatically, without the need to register it at a copyright office (although that should still be done because that makes it easier for judges), and that a copyrighted work in one UN nation is automatically copyrighted in all other nations.

For the purpose of international cooperation you could look into setting up a UN Copyright Agency, or simply urge all nations to organise their copyright offices so it's easy to exchange information with other UN nations.

[Eisophca]

I'm trying to keep the registration and such out of the UN to hold off the NatSovists: if a nation mandates that registration is required, then so be it. If the rule that copyrights are not allowed at all, then so be it. Part of the purpose of the resolution is to get nations to improve their copyright laws so as to attract artists and such.
Groot Gouda that a copyrighted work in one UN nation is automatically copyrighted in all other nations.[/quote]
That's clauses #2 & #3

So, I have a new draft. I think I'll keep patents in here, but remove trademarks...?

Quote: 
RECOGNIZING that the main investment in the creation of intellectual work is not the support needed to display it, but the time or materials spent in conceiving and creating the work;

NOTING that many nations have some sort of copyright law already in place;

SADDENED that these laws can be mutually incompatible, and can fail to protect copyright owners, especially if nations without copyright laws do not respect and enforce the copyright laws of other nations:

-*- SECTION ONE: COPYRIGHTS -*-

1. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution,

a) "intellectual work" as a work in which the physical materials used to represent it make up a minimal part of its value, and in which most of the value is intellectual;

b ) "copyright law" as a law that restricts the distribution of intellectual work;

c) "nation of production" as the nation in which an intellectual work, exactly as it appears in its completion, was first put into tangible form;

d) "tangible form" as a support in which the intellectual work appears in its complete form, with all creative value visible;

2. PRESERVES any and all copyrights applicable in the nation of production of any work in all UN nations, regardless of where it has been distributed;

3. PRESERVES any and all applicable rights given to the copyright holder by national copyright law throughout UN nations;

4. EMPOWERS copyright holders to restrict the nations in which their international work is distributed, especially for the purpose of protecting work from citizens in non-UN nations who are not required to abide by this resolution.

5. CREATES the United Nations Copyright and Patent Registry (UNCPR), which will be entrusted with the sole duty of maintaining a database of all copyrights and patents possessed by all nations in the United Nations for the purpose of facilitating international copyright and patent law;

-*- SECTION II: PATENTS -*-

5. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution, "patent" as a protection by national law of an idea for a product or invention for a limited amount of time, after which the idea becomes free for all to use;

6. CAPS the length of patents at seventy-five years past the initiation of a patent, and

7. URGES nations to set the maximum length at less than twenty-five years;

8. MANDATES that patents only be issued when there is no evidence of the invention being used before or at the time of the patent;

9. MANDATES that no idea patented in the UNPR be used in any product or device without consent of the patent holder, but

10. EMPHASIZES that ideas may still be restricted in member nations at the will of the national government, unless this is barred by past or future UN legislation;

11. DECLARES that if two patents are found, at the time of the setup of the UNPR, that cover sufficiently similar material to be called the same patent, the one that was first registered in a national office will be declared the one valid in all UN nations, unless the records are found to not be accurate, in which case the patents will all become null and void;
[/quote]

[Grosseschnauzer]

Actually, if you were going for less than all three -- copyrights, trademarks and patents, I'd keep the first twoi in. As a general rule, the registration process are similar, and they're much more commonly in use than patents.

If I get the time, I'll come back and comb through the draft more carefully. (In another couple of weeks, I might just have more time! )

[Eisophca]

GrosseschnauzerJan 25 2006, 03:55 PM Actually, if you were going for less than all three -- copyrights, trademarks and patents, I'd keep the first twoi in. As a general rule, the registration process are similar, and they're much more commonly in use than patents. [/quote]
Actually, I thought of something during today: I should just divide it into three sections, and make a comprehensive protocol on intellectual property. Like this:
Quote: RECOGNIZING that the main investment in the creation of intellectual work is not the support needed to display it, but the time or materials spent in conceiving and creating the work;

NOTING that many nations have some sort of copyright, patent and trademark law already in place;

SADDENED that these laws can be mutually incompatible, and can fail to protect copyright owners, especially if nations without copyright laws do not respect and enforce the copyright laws of other nations:

-- THE UNCTPR --

1. CREATES the United Nations Copyright, Trademark and Patent Registry (UNCTPR), which will be entrusted with the sole duty of maintaining a database of all copyrights, trademarks and patents possessed by all nations in the United Nations for the purpose of facilitating international copyright, trademark and patent law;

2. MANDATES that if two of the same copyright, trademark or patent are found in the UNCTPR at the time of the setup of the UNCTPR, both will be rendered null and void;

-- COPYRIGHTS --

3. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution,

a) "copyrightable work" as a work in which the physical materials used to represent it make up a minimal part of its value, and in which most of the value is intellectual;

b ) "copyright law" as a law that restricts the distribution of copyrightable work;

c) "nation of production" as the nation in which a copyrightable work, exactly as it appears in its completion, was first put into tangible form;

d) "tangible form" as a support in which the copyrightable work appears in its complete form, with all creative value visible;

4. PRESERVES any and all copyrights applicable in the nation of production of any work in all UN nations, regardless of where it has been distributed;

5. PRESERVES any and all applicable rights given to the copyright holder by national copyright law throughout UN nations;

6. EMPOWERS copyright holders to restrict the nations in which their international work is distributed, especially for the purpose of protecting work from citizens in non-UN nations who are not required to abide by this resolution.

-- PATENTS --

7. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution, "patent" as a protection by national law of an idea for a product or invention for a limited amount of time, after which the idea becomes free for all to use;

8. CAPS the length of patents at seventy-five years past the initiation of a patent, and

9. URGES nations to set the maximum length at less than twenty-five years;

10. MANDATES that patents only be issued when there is no evidence of the invention being used before or at the time of the patent;

11. MANDATES that no idea patented in the UNPR be used in any product or device without consent of the patent holder, but

12. EMPHASIZES that ideas may still be restricted in member nations at the will of the national government, unless this is barred by past or future UN legislation;

-- TRADEMARKS --

13. DEFINES, for the purpose of this resolution, "trademark" as a logo, symbol or phrase that is an identifying symbol of a company;

14. REQUIRES that trademarks not be used anywhere in the United Nations by companies other than the holder of the trademark as long as the holder is still in operation;[/quote]

Is this going to be too long? I'm going to post this draft in the jolt UN forum soon for comments, but are there any immediate problems that us IDU members can see?

[Groot Gouda]

It's broad and long. It's better to limit it, you can always submit patents and trademarks in different resolutions.

It's a bit legalese too. These:
Quote: 4. PRESERVES any and all copyrights applicable in the nation of production of any work in all UN nations, regardless of where it has been distributed;

5. PRESERVES any and all applicable rights given to the copyright holder by national copyright law throughout UN nations;[/quote]

I simply don't understand as a furriner.