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 Posté le: Mar Oct 01, 2013 12:19 am Sujet du message: Engineering report: A question of ownership |
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{Engineering report: A question of ownership}
Mike Dickens, vice-president at Kerr Wood Leidal,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url], distinguishes between ownership of the documents engineers produce,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], and that of the documents’ copyrightBy Peter DeVriesTue Mar 5,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], 2013 12:01am PSTIn today’s digital age, engineers are facing unique challenges. For technical engineers, creations often consist of information alone,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], and ownership can be difficult to characterize simply because their products are essentially intangible.Brian Lee, lawyer, patent agent and partner in charge of the intellectual property (IP) department at Gowlings law firm, tries to make sense of it all.“Especially in the areas of protecting technology, it’s been a bit of a strain in interpreting the legislation to deal with some of [its] modern embodiments.” Patent and copyright legislation in Canada is more than 100 years old, said Lee, and demands careful interpretation by judges in order to address the concepts embodied in the spectrum of digital technologies found in today’s marketplace.In days gone by, a search of patent files would have meant flipping through yellowed sheets of drafting paper covered in drawings of wooden implements, or in sketches of metal pins, cogs and wheels. It’s not so simple any more.Enter the digital age, and, being at the vanguard of design innovation, engineers, said Lee, must grapple with new ways to understand, catalogue and ultimately defend their ownership of many of their innovations.The problem is that many of their creations, items that have come to define our epoch, are often best described as abstract and arcane.Not that Canadian laws help, said Lee. If the current legislation around patents and copyrights is any indication, IP rights in the digital age would be to the typewriter’s inventor as the combustion engine would be to a Neanderthal.“Intellectual property,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url], broadly speaking, covers a number of different areas including copyright, trademarks, patents, [and] industrial designs,” said Lee. For engineers, he said, intellectual property rights play their biggest role in the design and development of technology.According to Lee, business methods, which comprise new types of software for e-commerce, insurance, banking, and tax compliance, are just one type of IP that fall victim to inadequate laws.Current legislation was drafted with tangible machinery in mind. “Up until the last couple of years, there [weren’t] any court decisions on whether business methods were patentable.”As a result, the business viability of numerous software products representing significant value were held only with an abiding sense of uncertainty. This has posed a daunting task for their developers, whose success often relies on retaining the rights to their work.And here is where engineers are facing a very real problem: upholding their creative ethos and encouraging new ideas and inventions while adequately protecting the interests of those who create them.“There should be a discussion at the outset, and an agreement between the engineering company and the customer, as to who is going to own the intellectual property,” said Lee.He breaks ownership into four general categories:•the product or invention;•any ability to file patents for it;•any copyright that may be associated with it; and•a waiver of moral rights.Moral rights are the creator’s rights to the integrity of the work or to protection from its corruption or defacement,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url], and can’t be assigned,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], only waived.Companies that do not already have an in-house IP manager, recommends Lee, should have access to counsel who specialize in the field.Mike Dickens, vice-president at Kerr Wood Leidal consulting engineers,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], knows well the value of clarity in contract agreements.“Ownership of drawings,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], specifications and other documents used in the construction of a project is often confused with ownership of copyright,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url],” he said. “The ownership of copyright refers to the three-dimensional expression of the design embodied in the drawings as well as the right to reproduce that expression.”Typically, he said, clients want ownership of a unique project that they worry may be used for another customer. Conversely, engineers worry that unauthorized use of the product may expose him or her to certain liabilities.The National Research Council offers technical advice and funding assistance to businesses dealing with IP and the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada offers information and courses in IP rights.Tags: law, software, banking, engineering
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