Editing Intellectual property (section)

===Objections to the expansion in nature and scope of intellectual property laws===
[[File:Tom Bell's graph showing extension of U.S. copyright term over time.svg|thumb|Expansion of U.S. copyright law (assuming authors create their works by age 35 and live for seventy years)]]

Other criticism of intellectual property law concerns the expansion of intellectual property, both in duration and in scope. As scientific knowledge has expanded and allowed new industries to arise in fields such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, originators of technology have sought IP protection for the new technologies. Patents have been granted for living organisms,<ref>Council for Responsible Genetics, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20111002092235/http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomics/crg.html DNA Patents Create Monopolies on Living Organisms]". Retrieved 2008.12.18.</ref> and in the United States, [[Plant breeders' rights|certain living organisms]] have been patentable for over a century.<ref>Plant Patents [https://web.archive.org/web/19990220172601/http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/plant/ USPTO.gov]</ref>

The increase in terms of protection is particularly seen in relation to copyright, which has recently been the subject of serial extensions [[Copyright Term Extension Act|in the United States]] and [[Copyright Duration Directive|in Europe]].<ref name="lessigperpetual">{{cite web|title=Against perpetual copyright|url=http://wiki.lessig.org/index.php/Against_perpetual_copyright|website=wiki.lessig.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091103224919/http://wiki.lessig.org/index.php/Against_perpetual_copyright|archive-date=3 November 2009}}</ref><ref>''E.g.'', the U.S. [[Copyright Term Extension Act]], Pub.L. 105–298.</ref><ref>Mark Helprin, Op-ed: [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/opinion/20helprin.html A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn't Its Copyright?] ''The New York Times'', 20 May 2007.</ref><ref>''[[Eldred v. Ashcroft]]'' [https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/01-618.ZS.html Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U. S. 186 (2003)]</ref><ref name="td_confused">{{cite web|title=Arguing For Infinite Copyright... Using Copied Ideas And A Near Total Misunderstanding Of Property|url=http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070521/015928.shtml|last=Masnick|first=Mike|date=21 May 2007|website=techdirt|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907142130/http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070521/015928.shtml|archive-date=7 September 2009}}</ref> With no need for registration or copyright notices, this is thought to have led to an increase in [[orphan work]]s (copyrighted works for which the copyright owner cannot be contacted), a problem that has been noticed and addressed by governmental bodies around the world.<ref>Library of Congress Copyright Office [http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2012/77fr64555.pdf Docket No. 2012–12 Orphan Works and Mass Digitization] Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 204. Monday, 22 October 2012. Notices. PP 64555–64561; see p 64555 first column for international efforts and 3rd column for description of the problem.</ref>

Also with respect to copyright, the American film industry helped to change the social construct of intellectual property via its trade organization, the [[Motion Picture Association]] (MPA). In amicus briefs in important cases, in lobbying before Congress, and in its statements to the public, the MPAA has advocated strong protection of intellectual property rights. In framing its presentations, the association has claimed that people are entitled to the property that is produced by their labor. Additionally Congress's awareness of the position of the United States as the world's largest producer of films has made it convenient to expand the conception of intellectual property.<ref>Dennis Wharton, "MPAA's Rebel With Cause Fights for Copyright Coin", Variety (3 August 1992), Vol. 348, No. 2, p. 18.</ref> These doctrinal reforms have further strengthened the industry, lending the MPAA even more power and authority.<ref>William W. Fisher III, [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property99/history.html The Growth of Intellectual Property:A History of the Ownership of Ideas in the United States] Eigentumskulturen im Vergleich (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999)</ref>

The growth of the [[Internet]], and particularly distributed search engines like [[Kazaa]] and [[Gnutella]], have represented a challenge for copyright policy. The [[Recording Industry Association of America]], in particular, has been on the front lines of the fight against [[copyright infringement]], which the industry calls "piracy". The industry has had victories against some services, including a highly publicized case against the file-sharing company [[Napster]], and some people have been prosecuted for sharing files in violation of copyright. The electronic age has seen an increase in the attempt to use software-based DRM tools to restrict the copying and use of digitally based works. Laws such as the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] have been enacted that use criminal law to prevent any circumvention of software used to enforce DRM systems. Equivalent provisions, to prevent circumvention of copyright protection have existed in EU for some time, and are being expanded in, for example, Article&nbsp;6 and 7 the [[Copyright and Information Society Directive 2001|Copyright Directive]]. Other examples are Article&nbsp;7 of the Software Directive of 1991 (91/250/EEC), and the [[Conditional Access Directive]] of 1998 (98/84/EEC). This can hinder legal uses, affecting [[public domain]] works, [[limitations and exceptions to copyright]], or uses allowed by the copyright holder. Some [[copyleft]] licenses, like the [[GNU GPL 3]], are designed to counter this.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Quick Guide to GPLv3|url=https://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.en.html|last=Smith|first=Brett|date=2007–2010|website=gnu|publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]]|access-date=15 February 2013}}</ref> Laws may permit circumvention under specific conditions, such as when it is necessary to achieve interoperability with the circumventor's program, or for [[accessibility]] reasons; however, distribution of circumvention tools or instructions may be illegal.

In the context of trademarks, this expansion has been driven by international efforts to harmonise the definition of "trademark", as exemplified by the [[TRIPS Agreement|Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]] ratified in 1994, which formalized regulations for IP rights that had been handled by common law, or not at all, in member states. Pursuant to TRIPS, any [[sign (semiotics)|sign]] which is "capable of distinguishing" the products or services of one business from the products or services of another business is capable of constituting a trademark.<ref>Katherine Beckman and Christa Pletcher (2009) [http://ipjournal.law.wfu.edu/files/2010/10/article.10.215.pdf Expanding Global Trademark Regulation] Wake Forest Intellectual Property Law Journal 10(2): 215–239</ref>