Intellectual property rights: Covering your copyrights

The effective use of copyright law is important to obtain benefits from the commercialisation of its products. Copyright law grants authors, composers, computer programmers, website designers and other creators exclusive rights to their works. These rights enable an author – or in many cases the company in which the author is employed – the right to control the economic use of his work in a number of ways, and to receive payment. Copyright law in many countries also provides ‘moral’ rights that protect an author’s reputation and integrity. Broadcasters, performers and phonogram producers benefit from ‘related rights’ for their key role in disseminating works. This document describes examples of effective use of copyright law to protect a work.

This document is an article out of a series on intellectual property rights published in the CBI News Bulletin in 2006. All articles are written by Esteban Burrone from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation).