Copyright, Trademark, Patent, and The Fair Use Doctrine in Modern World
In today’s world, with a large number of goods, there is piracy and counterfeit items. The right approach to trademark protection will help minimize incidents of piracy and significantly improve the quality of products on the market. Therefore, it is crucial to correctly define concepts such as copyright, trademark, and patent. Awareness of these factors will help to better understand the functioning of the goods in the market.
It will be useful to highlight the features of each of the concepts of copyright, trademark, and Patent and to understand the difference between them. Copyright means one can get the right to make a copy of their original work and sell it in the market. A trademark identifies the goods or services of a company or person. It is the distinctive mark we see on the goods in the store. In comparison, a Patent means fixing a person’s status as a creator of some innovation or technology. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize that the main difference between these concepts is whether or not transferring rights for goods or inventions is possible.
I believe the attempt to establish an international trademark protection standard may be justified. In today’s world, there are a large number of markets for goods. Since countries had different standards and laws, there are many barriers to harmonization. In my opinion, creating an international standard for trademark protection will be helpful for the foundation of a system that will significantly reduce piracy and counterfeiting of goods. On the other hand, as a disadvantage of international standards, I see the need to involve many resources and finances to create and maintain it. Some authoritarian countries, such as China or Russia, will have their views on the standard for trademark protection. Consequently, their laws would be contrary to generally accepted ones. However, we should try to create an international standard for trademark protection.
The fair use doctrine is created to satisfy the requirements of the consumer and the rights of the licensee of the author’s product. It is based on United States law, which implies a certain amount of consumer product use without having to notify the author. The critical factors in this use are the purpose, the amount used, and the impact on the original work’s market. Hence, the doctrine is designed to determine whether a use is fair or not.