Intellectual property over a literary, artistic, or scientific work arises from the mere act of creation, whether it is published or unpublished.
There is no unified terminology. In legal texts from countries influenced by Roman Law, terms like Intellectual Property or Copyright are used, whereas in Anglo-Saxon and Asian countries, the term Copyright or right of copy is commonly used.
All original literary, artistic, or scientific creations expressed by any means or medium, tangible or intangible, currently known or to be invented in the future, can be the subject of intellectual property.
Also subject to intellectual property as derivative works of the original are:
- Translations and adaptations.
- Revisions, updates, and annotations.
- Compilations, summaries, and extracts.
- Musical arrangements.
- Transformations of a literary, artistic, or scientific work.
Copyrights are independent, compatible, and cumulative with industrial property rights [patents, trademarks, industrial design…] that may exist over the work.
Intellectual property consists of personal rights, which are inalienable and non-waivable, and economic rights: the rights to exploit the work in any form, particularly the rights of reproduction, distribution, public communication, and transformation, which cannot be exercised without the author’s authorization.
The exploitation rights of the work will last for the author’s lifetime and for seventy years after their death or declaration of death.
Modes.
- Individual work. The author is presumed to be the person identified as such in the work.
- Collaborative work. When it is the unified result of the individual contributions of several authors.
- Collective work. Created by the initiative and under the coordination of a natural or legal person who publishes and disseminates it under their name, and is formed by the combination of contributions from different authors whose contributions merge into a unique and autonomous creation.
Legal Protection.
The holder of intellectual property rights may seek from the infringer and intermediaries: (i) the cessation of the illegal activity, (ii) compensation for material and moral damages caused, and (iii) the adoption of urgent precautionary measures.
Legal Framework
- Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996, of April 12, which approves the revised text of the Intellectual Property Law, standardizing, clarifying, and harmonizing the current legal provisions on the matter.
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