LW322 Intellectual Property Law

Fiji Jurisdiction

Part A 1. Intellectual Property rights are private rights provided for and protected by intellectual property laws in recognition of the creator's works and inventions. True or false? Justify the response.

2. The right to copyright over an owner's works will only exist once he or she registers their copyright works in a government copyright registry. True or false? Justify the response.

3. A monopoly granted by a patent to an inventor of a new invention lasts the inventor a lifetime plus 50 years after his or her death. True or false? Justify the response.

4. Trademark protections only last for 10 years and cannot be renewed. True or false? Justify the response.

5. Translations, adaptations, arrangements, and other transformations or modification of works or works created from existing works such as dramatization, motion picture, sound recording are all derivative works. True or false? Justify the response.

6. Plants and animals and biological processes, discovery of materials or substances already existing in nature are patentable. True or false? Justify the response.

7. Where two persons have invented the same or similar invention independently of each other the right to a patent for the invention will go to the person who filed the application first or at the earliest priority date. True or false? Justify your response.

8. The internet has no borders and passes quality information freely and instantaneously all over the world; this currently makes it almost difficult for law enforcers to trace and punish copyright violators. True or false? Justify theresponse.

9. The type of peer-to-peer file-sharing system developed on the internet meant that it had no centralised directory. Users could find .each other, and copy and re-distribute films and sound recordings to each other's hard-drives, but they could not be controlled. This form of sharing copyright works on the internet is secondary infringement by the Internet Service Provider. True or false? Justify the response.

10. The Trade Related Intellectual Properties (TRIPs) Agreement regulates trading with goods and services around the world. True or false? Justify the response.

Part B

1. Compare and contrast original works with derivative works under copyright law and provide examples of the two.

2. What are the exclusive rights which a patent holder has and what are the limitations to these rights?

PartC

1. John Vatu owns a bakery company and sells baked products including bread, cakes, sponges and other baked products. He sells his products under the trademark "rani" which means "day" in his local dialect. During his sales rounds, he notices bread in one of his customer's shops wrapped in paper with the name "rani tavu". John registered his trademark "rani" and has been using it for a number of years. He feels that someone has infringed his mark and comes to you for advice. What are John's exclusive rights over his trademark? Has there been an infringement?What would be the remedies available to him?

2. Rachel Roy is a traditional scientist and has been experimenting with the benefits of seaweed in Vanuatu. She has produced seaweed products on a small scale and has a market for treatment of skin, body and hair ailments. Lately, she has invented a new seaweed product for cervical cancer. She comes to you for advice to protect her new invention. What advice would you give her?

Part D

1. How does global trading regulatory system through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) benefit the Pacific Island countries in trading ingoods and services and in Intellectual Property rights?

2. What actions should be taken to better protect indigenous traditional knowledge and culture and the genetic material in natural resources in the Pacific?