Vetoed Intellectual Property Protection Act

[HugeBob]

A
BILL
To

Protect Intellectual Property​

The people of Democracy Craft, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 – Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the “Intellectual Property Protection Act”.
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

2 – Reasons
(1) To allow the development of business based upon intellectual property and prevent theft of logos/art.

3 – Forum
(1) A new forum shall be created for Copyright Applications.

4 – Protections
(1) Once a Copyright Application is approved, whatever was copyrighted now belongs to the entity registered as the owner.
(2) 3 types of copyright shall exist: Full, Limited, and Public.

(3) Full Copyright:
(a) Anyone found using your copyrighted material without permission may be prosecuted in the court of law.
(b) Material protected by Full Copyright may only be used without consent if it is only present in a private area where the public cannot see it or if being worn (shields). Putting up copyrighted banners at a storefront without permission shall be considered illegal even if you purchased the banners from the copyright owner.
(c) Full Copyrights automatically become Limited Copyrights after 1 month unless the DEC approves a reapplication for the Copyright which would reset the expiration.

(4) Limited Copyright:
(a) Anyone found selling your copyrighted material without permission may be prosecuted in the court of law.
(b) Material protected by Limited Copyright may be used in any way so long as it is not sold.
(c) Limited Copyrights automatically become Public Copyrights after 2 months unless the DEC approves a reapplication for the Copyright which would reset the expiration.

(5) Public Copyright:
(a) Material protected by Public Copyright is free to be produced, sold, and used in any context.
(b) The only protection offered is that no one else may obtain a Copyright for the same content.

5 – New Law
(1) Copyright Infringement is whenever any individual or organization uses copyrighted material without consent from the owner.
(a) First offense: All revenue generated from use of the material + $100 made payable to the victim.
(b) Second offense: All revenue generated from use of the material + $500 made payable to the victim plus 10 minutes of jail time.
(c) Third and subsequent offenses: All revenue generated from use of the material + $1,000 made payable to the victim plus 30 minutes of jail time plus deregistration of all corporations owned by the offender.

6 – Process
(1) Any individual or organization may apply for Copyright protections for any sort of intellectual property on the forums.
(2) The applicant must list their username, the hopeful owner of the intellectual property (themselves, a company, a political party), why they would like to have copyright protections, what type of copyright they’d like, and anything else the DEC deems necessary to ask.
(3) The DEC has the power to and is encouraged to attach a fee to the Copyright application to discourage abuse.
(4) Copyrights shall be recognized as assets for the purpose of other bills that control the distribution/taxation of assets.
(5) The DEC may decline any Copyright application for any reason.
(6) An owner of Copyrighted material may apply to have the type of copyright changed.
(7) The DEC may deregister any Copyright for any reason.

7 – Clarification
(1) This is NOT a patent, you may not copyright chests, swords, dyed leather armor, or other basic goods.
(2) You MAY copyright things like banners, logos, images, etc.

 

[End]

Vetoed.

This is extensive administration work for department employees which can be mitigated through an automatic copyright to your intellectual property.

Recommendations:
- A more comprehensive definition of what can and can't be copyrighted.
- An expiration of copyright.