The Importance of IP Rights

Intellectual property, often short-handed to "IP", is anything that is created such as artwork, literature, symbols, names and so on. These  are then protected by IP rights, which is the process in which a persons creation is protected for a set amount of time to allow exclusivity with use. IP can be created by anyone anywhere, and different countries will have different IP rights to put into place that allow its protection.

Image by Josh Goodwin

There are 4 distinct types of IP rights, all put in place to protect the content of a creator. They are:

Copyright - this covers specific media, such as recordings, literary work and broadcasts. In the UK, this is automatic and doesn't cost a fee. To show your work is copyrighted, you may opt to use the symbol "©" alongside your name and year of creation. It lasts a specific amount based upon what you are copyrighting.

Trademark - this covers words, sounds, logos, colours and any further combination of them. It lasts for 10 years in the UK, and the price can be anywhere upwards from £170. It cannot be offensive, too common or misleading. Trademarking is shown with the "®" symbol.

Patent - to apply for this, your IP must have never been publicly available, and must be "either something that can be made and used, a technical process, or a method of doing something". This will cost you, in the UK, at least £310. A patent must be something that isn't an artistic work, medical treatment and non technical purposed software, among others.

Trade Secrets - these are something that the owner will go to measures to keep hidden, be it a formula, a design, a business pattern and so on. The owner has legal rights to keep it secret and doesn't need to share it, as protected by law.

IP rights matter a lot within the creative industries as, if you claim your own original work as yours, it legally prohibits others taking a piece of work without permission and/or payment, which therefore allows the commercialisation of specific work and lets owners create revenue from work. Having protection over your work will give creators relief, as it ensures - or should ensure - that their work will always belong to them as they have legal ownership over it. 

Copyright is incredibly important as it protects work produced effective immediately, and with no fee, allowing complete ownership over IP and making your work used by others illegal unless permission has been sought and approved. This means that if the owner of IP finds someone is using their work without permission, they can be entitled to compensation legally, which in turn instills confidence in those creating IP and allowing more creative work to be published for everyone to enjoy.

Image by Nick Youngson from Picpedia

Some legal disputes regarding IP rights within the animation industry, especially in recent times, are revolving around the introduction of artificial intelligence - AI - into the industry, in ways that are perceived by many as extremely unethical. AI is being implemented into social media to take "inspiration" from artists existing work, however this comes with absolutely no credit and no permission, going against IP rights and is also very ethically challenging. AI art takes what is put online and merges it together to try create an image, but it is still rudimentary and makes issues that a human artist wouldn't tend to, showing that IP can only be truly created by human intellect, not artificial intellect. AI can be used for good in a lot of instances, however it being used to rip IP and recreate images is not a positive use of it.

IP doesn't stifle creativity with the creative industries, it only protects it. Creativity isn't stealing work from others and claiming it as yours; IP and the subsequent rights don't ban others from taking inspiration from existing property, just prohibits someone staking a claim to something that isn't theirs legally. It actually encourages creativity, as you can create something similar but with notable, obvious differences that make it your own - all art is inspired from something else, so this doesn't at all stifle creativity. 

My views on IP rights are that they are in place for good reason, stopping work from being stolen and used by someone who isn't the owner - as someone who is an artist and posts online, this can be a threat, and could have an effect on my future livelihood as I, personally, am to become a character concept artist, so without IP and the protection rights bring I could easily have my life's work stolen and claimed as someone else's with no legal repercussions. IP rights protect both the owner and the IP, which is incredibly beneficial, especially for those who wish to make money from their work, and only negatively affects those who are trying to take property unlawfully.

References

UK Government, Patent Your Invention (online) Available https://www.gov.uk/patent-your-invention