Is English Intellectual Property Law Incapable of Protecting Internet's Growth - Essay Example

Thus, the question arises that are the existing English Intellectual Property Right Laws adequate and capable of protecting the intellectual property on the Internet from the unlimited means of infringing ways intellectual property thieves can think of? The roots of English Law of Intellectual Property can be traced back to 1709 when Statute of Anne recognized the copyrights of artists, musicians, painters and writers in their respective creative and original works. Later on, the Bern Convention in 1886 obligated all its Member States to amend their local laws to give due consideration to the copyrights of their local authors as well as to respect and provide adequate protection to the copyrighted works of foreign authors.

Similarly, the Rome Convention in 1980 recognized the industrial rights of the inventors, designers and trademark owners obligating its Member States to provide protection to novel inventions, designs and marks that have the ability to distinguish the goods and service from another person’s goods and service. However, the Internet was created in 1989 and its potential to disseminate information from one person to another was revealed after a long time after its creation. The intellectual property law, thus, was unaware about the legal implications which will arise once the Internet will become a social necessity of every person around the world.

Most importantly, the Internet has become the virtual platform for the businesses, entrepreneurs, individual inventors, and intellectual property stakeholders to sell their products and services online without the need for spending substantial amounts on the physical assets, expenditures and human resources. The Internet allows the musicians, authors and artists to publish their work online for the viewers and readers from around the world to admire and purchase the work without waiting for years to get the music CD or the hardcover book.

Thus, Internet has categorically contributed to the success and popularity of the intellectual property owners around the world. On the other hand, Internet has also been criticized to become the ultimate haven for the intellectual property thieves to establish their black practices like illegal downloading of music, peer-to-peer file sharing, counterfeiting of original books, illegal copying of copyrighted pictures, illegally entering into private online databases, copying of software program codes, creation of multiple domain names using popular business trademark, passing-off one’s intellectual property as one’s own, stealing the trade secrets by hacking one’s computer and illegally infringing upon the patented inventions of the inventor and the scientists.

The existing English Law of Intellectual Property comprises of Patents Act of 1977, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, Trademarks Act of 1994 and Registered Designs Act of 1949 amended by Community Designs Regulation of 2001. These laws protect the copyrights, designs, patents and trademarks from any use, copying, selling, importing and exporting, licensing and assigning. Moreover, the protection granted to trademarks, patents and designs is territorial in nature. Thus, if one country has granted a patent for an invention in one country, it does not guarantee similar protection in other countries too.

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