Intellectual Property

The term “Intellectual property” is a fairly modern concept which was not used until the 19th century, but many of its basic legal principles have evolved over centuries. The British statute of “Anne” from 1710 and the statute of "Monopolies" from 1623 are seen as the origins of copyright and patent laws.

Intellectual property (IP) concerns the patents or copyrights to audio, pictures, films and the written word. This means that software, music, movies, books, video games and other forms of media are considered intellectual property and they are thereby protected accordingly.

 

Over the past few years there has been many discussions regarding file sharing when it comes to movies and music. File sharing is illegal when the movies and music that are shared are protected by copyright. Several Internet services have been shut down after engaging in illegal file sharing, one example is Napster in 2001.

Jon Lech Johansen has developed a graphical user interface to DeCSS that avoids the copy protection on DVD discs, which make it possible to copy them. In Norway he is known as DVD-Jon. He has faced charges on several occasions regarding this invention, but he has never been found guilt. He has in recent years launched a new program, QTFairUse, which unlocks Apple's iTunes AAC files.

DVD Jon is known for his work with unlocking DVDs, and he is still working within this area based on his personal belief that digital products should be used without embedded locks from the companies.
Together with Monique Farantoz he started the company “DoubleTwist Corporation”, and they have developed a file-sharing program called "double twist" with regard to legal file sharing between computers.

To conclude I will refer to 10 pitfalls that technology entrepreneurs often encounter when working with Intellectual property:

1. Introducing the original thoughts behind an idea or a technology is not the same as owning the rights to it.
 
2. Not securing the rights from partners and consultants.
 
3. To disclose patentable inventions to early.
 
4. Initiate marketing before the IP is protected
 
5. Agreeing on a joint ownership or a cross-licensing agreement without possessing custom contract-regulations.
 
6. Involving a third IP in the product without the correct licenses and overview.
 
7. Focusing on only one type of IP protection.
 
8. To assume that the licensor actually owns the rights he sells without actually checking.

9. To not have enough knowledge of which IP model that best fits your business.

10. Poor use of resources and follow-up.

Data Retention Directive

In 2006 EU adopted a directive about storage of data traffic. Directive 2006/24/EC , also known as the Data Retention Directive (DRD), was adopted as a reaction to several major terrorist attacks in recent years, amongst others the one in New York on 11^th September 2001, in Madrid on 11^th March 2004 and in London on 7^th July 2005. The purpose of the new directive is to stop terrorism and serious crime.

Who must implement the new directive?
Anyone who is a member of the EU are obligated to implement the directive, however since it was put into force on 09/15/2007, the members were allowed to postpone the changes till 03/15/2009. Several countries, including Sweden, have been condemned for not introducing the directive by the deadline. They have now decided to postpone the directive for another year, which could result in substantial fines for the country.
As Norway is not a member of the EU, the rules that apply for us are slightly different. We are a member of the EEA and the directive is considered to be EEA-relevant, however the directive has not been incorporated into the EEA agreement yet.

Which info is being stored and for how long?
The rules today limits the companies in Norway to only store data needed to charge you as a customer and the data can only be stored for 3-5 months. All other data is deleted immediately, however this is not the case with the new directive.
With the new directive certain data could be stored for 6-24 months. In Norway the proposed amount of time for storage is 12 months.
The data that will be stored includes most electronic communication tools, such as e-mail, landline, mobile phones and internet phones. The information which will be stored is the name and address, and the telephone number or IP address of all communicating parties. The time of when the communication took place, the duration of the communication, and the exact area of where the parties were located during communication must be recorded.

Who will have access to the data?
It is the companies that offer a specific service that have the responsibility to store and save data. The information collected will generally only be available to the police and the FSA, but they must have an approval from a court before the retrieve any data. For the police to receive data from the traffic there must be suspicion of crime with a penalty of minimum four years, and to receive data concerning specific locations there must be a charge of minimum five years.
Individuals may also access parts of the data and logs as part of civil lawsuits, but it would only be information (in relation to subscriptions) such as names linked to certain email addresses or IP addresses. One will not be able to access any information concerning other individuals.

What about privacy?
The Consumers Council fears that the Data Retention Directive will threaten peoples’ privacy. They believe that this collection and storage of such massive amounts of information about consumers’ behavior increases the risk that someone may try to abuse the information.
Another opinion is stated by Hordaland Arbeiderparti (Hordaland Labour party) who considers the DRD a positive change and improvement to peoples’ privacy. They have stated that "Privacy is about the very basic safety each and every one of us have when it comes to the possibility of whether one is exposed to crime, and the chance the police has to resolve the issue."
Concerns have been raise on whether the directive is in conflict with the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 or not, which deals with the individual’s right to privacy, specifically that any intervention to private life should be considered in relation to the issue. The case however has not yet been discussed in the European Court of Human Rights.

Who voted for and against the DRD in Norway?
Just before new years the largest party of the government, Arbeiderpartiet (labour party), decided to vote for the new changes and implementing the DRD. Høyre,the Conservative Party's parliamentary group, voted and decided on 9^th March 2011 to support the Data Retention Directive, while the other political parties are still against introducing these new changes.

An overview of the main parties, state departments and organizations, and their position on this issue:

The introduction of the Data Retention Directive is scheduled to be dealt with in Parliament, and the preliminary date for this is 04/05/2011.

A video about Data Retention Directive (in Norwegian)