Intellectual Property and Human Rights

PART ONE

What makes me think of the link or correlation between intellectual property and human rights?

First of all, from the legal point of view, the term "intellectual property" refers to "copyright" as opposed to "patent", "trademark", "industrial design" and "trade secret" which are classified as "industrial property" (Paris Convention of 1883 on the Protection of Industrial Property).

Article 2 paragraph 1 of the Berne Convention of 1886 for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Paris Act 1971 as amended on 28 September 1979, reads as follows:

"The expression “literary and artistic works” shall include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature; dramatic or dramaticomusical works; choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show; musical compositions with or without words; cinematographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to cinematography; works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving and lithography; photographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to photography; works of applied art; illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography,topography, architecture or science."

It is clear that the Copyright, which legally means intellectual property (as opposed to Patent, Trademark, Industrial Design and Trade Secrets, which are classified as industrial property), protects every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain.

Now, how can I say that intellectual property, which legally means Copyright, constitute human rights, or at least is related to human rights? This is the answer.

Article 27 of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads as follows:

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Thus, it is clear that intellectual property, which legally means Copyright, constitute human rights, or at least is related to human rights.

Continue to read PART TWO.

Intellectual Property and Industrial Property

In the world of intellectual property, intellectual consolation is always preceded by commercial isolation, or in other words: intellectual consolation always follows commercial isolation. Therefore, intellectual consolation always ensures that commercial isolation stays on its track and will never go beyond its limits.

In the world of intellectual property, the most important historical time-line where intellectual consolation follows commercial isolation can be described as follows:

• Year 1440: The Printing Press was created by Gutenberg.

• Year 1557: Queen Mary I of the House of Tudor promulgated the Statute of Mary, pursuant to which the Stationer's Company had enjoyed monopoly to buy manuscripts from authors but once purchased, would have a perpetual monopoly on the printing of the work. Authors themselves were excluded from membership in the company and could not therefore legally self-publish, nor were they given royalties for books that sold well.

• Year 1710: The first-ever copyright legislation in the world was promulgated by Queen Anne of the House of Stuart, repealing the Statute of Mary. The Statute of Anne vested authors rather than printers with the monopoly on the reproduction of their works. It created a 21 year term for all works already in print at the time of its enactment and a fourteen year term for all works published subsequently. It also required that printers provide nine copies to the Stationer's Company for distribution to the Royal Library, the libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Sion College and the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. When Ireland united with Great Britain in 1801, the Trinity College and Kings' Inns in Dublin were added as two further depositories. Interestingly, the Statute of Anne's long title was: "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned".

• The term "intellectual property" did not exist until 1767 in the Blackstone's commentary on the Books of Law. The only reason why it took 3 (three) centuries since 1440 for the term "intellectual property" and the idea of copyright to come into existence is that it took that long for literacy to spread and grow enough for printing books and selling them to become a good business proposition. The change was gradual, but it accelerated in 1700s with the quickening rise of commerce and the middle classes.
  

• Year 1783: In his book titled "Ueber den Büchernachdruck", Christian Sigmund Krause, a German philosopher wrote (as translated into English):

  "No, no, it is too obvious that the concept of intellectual property is useless. My property is exclusively mine; I must be able to dispose of it and retrieve it unconditionally. Let someone explain to me how that is possible with ideas. Just let someone try taking back the ideas he has originated once they have been communicated so that they are, as before, nowhere to be found. All the money in the world could not make that possible."

• Year 1883: The Paris Convention on Industrial Property (Patent, Trademark, Industrial Design, Trade Secret), which supports commercial isolation, was signed.
  

• Year 1886: The Berne Convention for the Protection of Works in Literary, Artistic and Scientific Domain, which supports intellectual consolation, was signed.