Legal Protection: Multilateral Agreements

With the rise of a global economic system a desire to establish agreements, which protect works not only within national borders, but also within a "Union" of countries or on an international level, has been expressed. As a consequence a variety of multilateral treaties have been negotiated and adopted by governments. Those shall simplify practice through international standardization and mutual recognition of rights and duties among nations.


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History: "The South"

In many traditional Southern countries awe and mystery surround the created object into which the creator projects spirit and soul. Also in contrast with the Western individual-based concept of intellectual property rights it is custom to recognize 'collective', 'communal' or 'folkloric' copyright. Folkloric copyright acknowledges rights to all kinds of knowledge, ideas and innovations produced in 'intellectual commons'. Such rights are not limited to the lifetime of an individual but rather exist in perpetuity with a specific group or an entire people.

Islamic Tradition

Already early Islamic jurists recognized a creator's right or copyright and offered protection against piracy. Traditional Islamic law treats infringement as a breach of ethics, not as a criminal act of theft. Punishment is carried out in the form of defamation of the infringer and the casting of shame on his tribe. Only in recent years many Islamic countries have adopted formal copyright statutes.

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Basics: Protected Works

Usually the subject matter of copyright is described as "literary and artistic works" - original creations in the fields of literature and arts. Such works may be expressed in words, symbols, pictures, music, three-dimensional objects, or combinations thereof. Practically all national copyright laws provide for the protection of the following types of works:

Literary works: novels, poems dramatic works and any other writings, whether published or unpublished; in most countries also computer programs and "oral works"

Musical works

Artistic works: whether two-dimensional or three-dimensional; irrespective of their content and destination

Maps and technical drawings

Photographic works: irrespective of the subject matter and the purpose for which made

Audiovisual works: irrespective of their purpose, genre, length, method employed or technical process used

Some copyright laws also provide for the protection of choreographic works, derivative works (translations, adaptions), collections (compilations) of works and mere data (data bases); collections where they, by reason of the selection and arrangement of the contents, constitute intellectual creations. Furthermore in some countries also "works of applied art" (furniture, wallpaper etc.) and computer programs (either as literary works or independently) constitute copyrightable matter.

Under certain national legislations the notion "copyright" has a wider meaning than "author's rights" and, in addition to literary and artistic works, also extends to the producers of sound recordings, the broadcasters of broadcasts and the creators of distinctive typographical arrangements of publications.


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Extract of AOL Time Warner’s Content Production and Distribution Holdings

The following selection does not claim to present an exhaustive listing, but rather picks some of the company's most important assets. Due to the rapid developments in the world of media giants the list is also subject to changes.

Cable TV Systems and Channels/Networks

Time Warner Cable has 12.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and also runs 5 local 24-hour news stations.

Cable TV channels/networks (some part-owned): HBO, HBO Plus, HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Comedy, HBO Zone, Cinemax, MoreMAX, ActionMAX, ThrillerMAX, HBO en Espa-ol, Comedy Central, Court TV, HBO Ole, HBO Asia, HBO Central Europe, CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN International, CNNfN, CNN/Sports Illustrated, CNN en Espa-ol, CNN Airport Network, CNN Radio, CNN Radio Noticias, CNN Interactive TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, TNT Europe, Cartoon Network Europe, TNT Latin America, Cartoon Network Latin America, TNT & Cartoon Network/Asia Pacific, CNN+, n-tv

Movies, TV, Video Production, and Movie Theaters

Warner Bros. film studio

Warner Bros. Television production studios

Warner Bros. Home Video

Turner worldwide Home Video

Turner Pictures

Castle Rock Entertainment movie production company

New Line Cinema movie production company

Warner Bros. film library

Turner Film Library

Hanna Barbera Cartoons

Owns many movie houses, with over 1,000 screens, around the world

Book Publishing

Time Life Inc.

Book-of-the-Month Club

Warner Books

Little, Brown and Company

Oxmoor House

Leisure Arts

Sunset Books

Magazines

Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Life, Money, Parenting, In Style, Entertainment Weekly, Cooking Light, Baby Talk, First Moments, Coastal Living, Health, Progressive Farmer, Southern Accents, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated, For Kids, Sunset, Teen People, Time for Kids, Weight Watchers, Mutual Funds, Your Company, Asiaweek, President, Wallpaper. Hippocrates

Recorded Music

Warner Music Group

The Atlantic Group

Elektra Entertainment Group

Rhino Entertainment

Sire Records Group

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Music International

WEA Inc.

WEA Corp.

WEA Manufacturing

Ivy Hill Corp.

Warner Special Products

Alternative Distribution Alliance

Giant Merchandising

Deals with record labels include:

Maverick records

Tommy Boy Sub Pop

Qwest

143 Records

Internet and New Media

About 130 Websites including: CNN.com, AllPolitics.com, CNNSI.com, Time Digital, People, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated

Turner New Media

Online Services including: Compuserve, Netscape, Netcenter

Pro Sports Teams and Promotions

Atlanta Braves major league baseball team

Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball team

World Championship Wrestling

Goodwill Games

Other

Six Flags entertainment/excursion parks

Warner Bros. Movie World theme park

Over 150 Warner Bros. stores, plus Turner Retail Group

25 % stake in Atari

14 % stake in Hasbro

Business Connections with Other Media Companies

Joint ventures, equity interests or major arrangements with Viacom, Sony, Bertelsmann, News Corp., Kirch, EMI, Tribune Co., and others.

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WTO

An international organization designed to supervise and liberalize world trade. The WTO (World Trade Organization) is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created in 1947 and liberalized the world's trade over the next five decades. The WTO came into being on Jan. 1, 1995, with 104 countries as its founding members. The WTO is charged with policing member countries' adherence to all prior GATT agreements, including those of the last major GATT trade conference, the Uruguay Round (1986-94), at whose conclusion GATT had formally gone out of existence. The WTO is also responsible for negotiating and implementing new trade agreements. The WTO is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years; a General Council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The WTO's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.



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Ron Rivest

Ronald L. Rivest is Webster Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in MIT's EECS Department. He was one of three persons in a team to invent the RSA public-key cryptosystem. The co-authors were Adi Shamir and Leonard M. Adleman.

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Mass production

The term mass production refers to the application of the principles of specialization, division of labor, and standardization of parts to the manufacture of goods. The use of modern methods of mass production has brought such improvements in the cost, quality, quantity, and variety of goods available that the largest global population in history is now sustained at the highest general standard of living. A moving conveyor belt installed in a Dearborn, Michigan, automobile plant in 1913 cut the time required to produce flywheel magnetos from 18 minutes to 5 and was the first instance of the use of modern integrated mass production techniques.

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