LEGAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIETAL ISSUES in MEDIA and INFORMATION

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP)

“Creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images
used in commerce.” (WIPO)

Republic Act 8293 - Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO)

• the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information, and cooperation.
• "responsible for the promotion and protection of intellectual
• property throughout the world through cooperation among states and, where appropriate, in
collaboration with other international organizations, and for the administration of various
• treaties dealing with intellectual property rights."
TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CLASSIFIED BY WIPO)
1. Copyright
o a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works.
Commonly protected works by COPYRIGHT:
- novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspaper articles
- computer programs, databases
- films, musical compositions, and choreographies
- paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures
- architecture
- advertisements, maps, and technical drawings
COPYRIGHT does NOT cover:
• "ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts"
• titles, slogans, or logos may or may not have copyright.

TWO TYPES OF RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT:

Economic rights
• allow the rights’ owner to derive financial reward
from the use of his/her works by others

Moral rights
• protect the non-economic interests of the author

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
• a violation of a copyright
REGISTERING COPYRIGHT
"help solve disputes over ownership or creation, as well as facilitate financial transactions, sales, and the
assignment and/or transfer of rights"

National Library of the Philippines

Copyright Section
Research and Publications Division
T.M. Kalaw Avenue, Ermita, Manila
Email Address: copyright@nlp.gov.ph

2. Patent
 • An exclusive right granted to an invention
• provides the patent owner the right to decide how or whether the invention can be used by others

3. Trademark
o a sign capable of distinguishing goods or services of one enterprise from those of other
enterprises
• This symbol is used for a trademark that has not been yet registered, but want to let others know that
the trademark is in use and you will contest others’ use of it.

• This R symbol is an ownership warning, to let the public know that a trademark is registered and legally
protected. It can only be used in combination with a registered trademark.

4. Industrial design
• Constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an object/article.
• May consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an object, or of two-
dimensional features such as patterns, lines or color.

MINI COOPER (Designer: Alec Issigonis)

The original Mini influenced a generation of car designers.

Coca-Cola Contour Bottle (Designer Earl R. Dean)

A masterpiece in industrial design that dates back to 1915.
5. Geographical Indications and
Appellations of origin
• Sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or
characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin.
The “T’nalak Tau Sebu” or “Lake Sebu T’nalak”

• COPYRIGHT - A legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their
literary and artistic works.
• PATENT - Exclusive right granted to an invention.
• TRADEMARK - A sign capable of distinguishing goods or services of one
enterprise from those of other enterprises.
• INDUSTRIAL DESIGN - Constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an
object/article.
• GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION AND APPELLATION OF ORIGIN - sign used on goods that have
a specific geographical origin and possess characteristics that are attributable to that place of origin.

- FAIR USE
• limits the rights of holders who are entitled to
reproduce works for a limited time period
• is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-
protected
works in certain circumstances.
(SOURCE: copyright.gov)

Some works covered by FAIR USE

• a criticism or a commentary • it is “transformative”

• a parody • a news report

• an artistic expression or artifact; scholarly and • it is not infringing and does not hurt the
research works market value of the copyrighted material.

• a product of a time-shifting device such as a • it is used solely for the purpose of scholarly
TV program recorder analysis
 • it is only a small portion of the work and the • an information found through Web search
purpose is a commentary engines

Common Examples of FAIR USE

• Student Projects

• Teachers’ instruction materials

• Sound or Video Clips used in classrooms

Legal sharing using

CREATIVE COMMONS

CREATIVE COMMONS License

• enable copyright holders to easily change terms of copyright “from the default of all rights reserved
to some rights reserved.”

• can “give people the right to share, use, and even build upon a [created] work.” as well as protect
users against threat of copyright infringement with the condition that these users abide by the
conditions specified by the owner or holder of the copyright.

CC LICENSES ARE BASED ON THESE FOUR CONDITIONS:

1. Attribution (by) 3. Non Commercial (nc)

2. Share Alike (sa) 4. No Derivatives (nd)

THE SIX MAIN CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES or
The Six Combinations of the CC Licenses:

PUBLIC DOMAIN
• Work can be used, adapted, copied, and published completely without restrictions or permission
needed.
OTHER ISSUES IN MEDIA AND INFORMATION
Plagiarism
• an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language
and thoughts of another author without authorization;
• the representation of that author’s work as one’s own,
as by not crediting the original author.

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM
o Publishing someone’s work as their own.
o Copying someone’s ideas or expression without giving credit to the owner.
o Changing words but copying the structure of the sentence without permission from the author.
o Giving incorrect information about the source of information.
o Downloading research paper from the internet.
o Hiring somebody to write an article for you.

FORMS OF PLAGIARISM
A. Direct plagiarism – copying someone’s ideas without citing it
B. Self-plagiarism – the use of one's own previous work in another context without citing that it was used
previously
C. Mosaic plagiarism – replacing synonym of other’s work and maintaining the same meaning and overall
structure of the topic
D. Accidental plagiarism – paraphrasing someone’s work without giving due credit to the original author,
forgetting to cite the original author and misquoting the sources of information

Differences between
PLAGIARISM and COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
- Not all plagiarisms are infringements and not all infringements are plagiarisms.
- Plagiarism often covers things that are not covered by copyright.
- Plagiarism is an ethical construct, while copyright infringement is a legal construct.
- Plagiarism occurs when you use someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit to the original author
while copyright infringement can occur if you infringe on the exclusive rights given to an author/creator.

OTHER ISSUES IN MEDIA AND INFORMATION

Cyberbullying - is a type of offensive action towards another which takes place using electronic technology.
Internet addiction - otherwise known as online addiction, or computer addiction
Digital divide - an economic inequality between groups in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of
Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Netiquette - Comes from the words “net”, short for internet, and “etiquette” which refers to the rules on how to
behave properly and politely while using the internet.
Virtual self -This is how we depict ourselves as we interact with people over the internet.
Digital footprint - is a trail of data you create while using the internet.
 10 CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE
• Remember the human • Share expert knowledge

• Adhere to the same standards of behavior • Help keep flame wars under control
online that you follow in real life.

• Know where you are in cyberspace • Respect other people’s privacy

• Respect other people’s time and bandwidth • Don’t abuse your power

• Make yourself look good online • Be forgiving to other people