Copyright

Works intended to creatively express and convey thoughts&sbquo sensitivity and emotions&sbquo and belonging to the fields of literature&sbquo academy art or music are called "copyrighted works." Copyright is the exclusive right of the author (creator) to profit when the copyrighted work is copied&sbquo published&sbquo translated&sbquo staged&sbquo performed or broadcast publicly&sbquo etc. It is one type of intangible property rights protected by copyright law. It is valid&sbquo in principle&sbquo for 50 years after the death of the author. Historically&sbquo copyright evolved as a system in which policymakers were linked inextricably with protection and censorship. The first law whose disposition focused on the protection of the author himself was Queen Anne's Law of 1709&sbquo the world's first copyright law. Since then copyright management organizations have existed for the personal rights and protection of authors&sbquo and the roles of these literary agents have developed to gain involvement in the system itself. The so called intellectual property right&sbquo which is a collective term these days for rights that protect intellectual deliverables&sbquo has placed more importance on the individual through the protection of inventions&sbquo discoveries and expressions-achieved through the individual's intellectual labor-as private properties. There is a strengthening trend to propagate the idea that this system is the foundation of democracy. It is&sbquo however&sbquo difficult to say that the intellectual property right in design in terms of patent&sbquo industrial property and copyright is fully laid out. This issue must be raised in the design world. In order to comprehend this issue we must clarify what extent a design should be considered a "product of expression" within the realm of copyright&sbquo or redefine the relationship between the authored expression and designed expression. Moreover&sbquo an organization of professional designers should possess the function of literary agent and become a socially acknowledged entity.

Copyright © 2009 Kazuo KAWASAKI All rights reserved.