Intellectual Property Act (2014)

Intellectual Property Act (2014) makes changes to the areas of designs and patents. Some changes to copyright were also originally included in the Bill, and are being introduced on the same date by amending the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. These changes were made effect on the 1^st October 2014.

It made changes to the design law (which is considered messy, complex and confusing) so that small businesses don’t lose out on their IP properties. The IP Act will introduce a number of new measures and make some changes to the law in order to make design law simpler, clearer and more robust. 

Key changes include:

• A new criminal offence for the copying of registered designs
• Changes to design ownership in relation to commissioned designs
• Private use of unregistered designs
• Scope of an unregistered design right
• Introduction of a design opinions service
• Online access to documents relating to registered designs

The IP Act will introduce a number of changes to patent law, making it easier and cheaper to use and defend patents. This will be beneficial for both patent holders and third parties.

These changes are:

•          Marking patented products with a web address
•          Expansion of the patent opinions service
•          Patents work sharing

Bibliography: 

     Wikipedia. (2016). Intellectual Property Act 2014. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_Property_Act_2014 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

     Gov.uk. (2014). 1 October 2014: Changes to design and patent law - News stories - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1-october-2014-changes-to-design-and-patent-law [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

     Pagehargrave.co.uk. (2016). Page Hargrave – Summary of the Intellectual Property Act 2014. [online] Available at: https://www.pagehargrave.co.uk/306 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

    Legislation.gov.uk. (2016). Image [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/18/pdfs/ukpga_20140018_en.pdf [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

     

Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988)

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, is the current UK copyright law. It was enacted as an update to the dated 1956 Copyright Act. It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the right to control the ways in which their material may be used. 

The rights cover:

•  Broadcast and public performance
• Copying
• Adapting
• Issuing 
• renting and lending copies to the public

For an example, if you were to buy software then copyright would forbid you from:

• Giving a copy to a friend
• Making a copy and then selling it
• Using the software on a network (unless the licence allows it)
• Renting the software without permission of the copyright holder

Essentially, the 1988 Act and amendment establishes that copyright in most works lasts until 70 years after the death of the creator if known, otherwise 70 years after the work was created or published. If it is for sound recordings the act lasts for 50 years after the recording or film was made, this is the same rule for broadcasts and TV shows. For typographical arrangements the copyright will last 25 years after the edition is published. 

Example of court cases

Wai Dat Chan and his company Playables imported and sold devices which are widely used to help people to play unlicensed versions of games for the Nintendo DS games console. Nintendo are one of the most efficient company's when it comes to their products so they cought on to this quickly. The company allowed people to play pirated Nintendo DS video games infringed copyright and broke laws forbidding the circumvention of copy-protection technology. This was done through their 'mod chips'.  

Bibliography:

 Wikipedia. (2016). Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright,_Designs_and_Patents_Act_1988 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Bbc.co.uk. (2016). BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Copyright law. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/2copyrightrev1.shtml [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Sqa.org.uk. (2016). Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. [online] Available at: http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/ProfIssues02CD/page_09.htm [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Copyright Service. (2016). UK copyright law. [online] Available at: https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Google.co.uk. (2016). Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988) - Image [online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Copyright,+Design+and+Patents+Act+(1988)&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKucCenNHPAhVLDMAKHQ77AZ0Q_AUICCgB&biw=1046&bih=946#imgrc=EUxUN5-QWFODuM%3A [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Bell, G. (2016). Nintendo mod chip seller infringed copyright, rules High Court . [online] Out-law.com. Available at: http://www.out-law.com/page-11268 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016] 

Computer Misuse Act (1990)

The Computer Misuse Act was enacted in the wake of the high profile hack of a mailbox belonging to The Duke of Edinburgh by Robert Schifreen and Stephen Gold. When they gained access to the login details of 50,000 Prestel customers they were unable to be properly prosecuted as no relevant legislation existed. Prior to 1990, there was no legislation in place to tackle the problems caused by hacking. Although everyone knew that it was wrong and should be against the law, there was nothing that anyone could do about it. The act was designed to protect computer users against willful attacks and theft of information.

Offences under the act include:

• Unauthorised access to computer material
• Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences
• Unauthorised modification of computer material

The act makes it an offence to access or even attempt to access a computer system without permission meaning if a hacker tries to get into a system but is unsuccessful they can be prosecuted using this law. The penalties of breaking the Computer Misuse Act range from fines to imprisonment.

Example of CMA cases

Adam Penny September 2016 -  Accessed a gold bullion firm’s website to obtain names, addresses and tracking numbers of customers to enable associates to intercept the gold deliveries. 

David Buchanan August 2016 - A 17 year-old hacked into his school intranet and developed scripts to help harvest Mums-net usernames and passwords.
Those are examples of people breaking the Computer Misuse Act. 

Bibliography:

Sqa.org.uk. (2016). What is Computer Misuse?. [online] Available at: http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/ITLaw01CD/page_03.htm  [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Sqa.org.uk. (2016). Computer Misuse Act. [online] Available at: http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning/ProfIssues02CD/page_07.htm  [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Teach-ict.com. (2016). Teach-ICT AS Level ICT OCR exam board - data protection act. [online] Available at: http://www.teach-ict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/AS_G061/317_role_impact_ict/computer_misuse_act/miniweb/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Google.co.uk. (2016). computer misuse act 1990 – Image. [online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=computer+misuse+act+1990&espv=2&biw=1046&bih=946&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib6KCFldHPAhUrK8AKHaSSCTUQ_AUIBigB&dpr=1#imgrc=U6Zd8nVx1BuuPM%3A [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016]

Computerevidence.co.uk. (2016). Computer Evidence - Computer Misuse Act 1990 cases. [online] Available at: http://www.computerevidence.co.uk/Cases/CMA.htm [Accessed 11 Oct. 2016].

Data Protection Act (1998)

The Data Protection Act is a UK law which controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government. This means that everyone responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’.

Some of the rules they must follow are:

• Used fairly and lawfully 
• Used for limited, specifically stated purposes
• Kept safe and secure
• Handled according to people’s data protection rights

There is strong legal protection for more sensitive information, such as:

• Ethnic background
• Political opinions
• Criminal records

The reason why the Data Protection Act was passed by parliament in 1998 was to give legal rights to people who have information stored about them.
Other European Union countries have passed similar laws as often information is held in more than one country.


Bibliography

Bbc.co.uk. (2016). BBC - GCSE Bitesize: The need for the Data Protection Act. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/0dataprotectionactrev1.shtml [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]

Gov.uk. (2016). Data protection - GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016] 

Magikos.co.uk. (2016). Image [online] Available at: http://magikos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/DPA-1998.png [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]

Wikipedia. (2016). Data Protection Act 1998. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2016]

Hacking

Cyber Crime

Data Breach

As of 2015 TalkTalk had come under serious pressure because of cyber attacks, 2 in 2015. The cyber attack on the website seemed to have exposed millions of customers, the attack took place on the 21st of October 2015. The company which at the time had over 4 million customers, said compromised data may of included the names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers, TalkTalk account information and even credit card details and/or bank details. 

Data breach to cost TalkTalk £35m

The costs of the TalkTalk data breach could reach between £30m and £35m. All that will cover is the initial response, the cost of calls into its call centres, additional IT costs and lost revenue. Police had arrested 5 people in connection to the cyber crime who have all been on bail until 2016. 

DDoS attacks

Just recently as of 31st of August 2016, huge video game franchise World of Warcraft recently suffered from a DDoS attack in its new game expansion, as you can imagine its a game that runs by always having servers online so millions of people suffered from this recent attack. A DDoS attack will cause high latency and generally slow everything down, causing pretty much everything to be out of sync due to significant delays. Disconnections are not uncommon, even if the player is able to even log on. In cases such as these with giant video game franchises, so many hacking groups will flock to twitter to claim their responsibility of the action. In my opinion i don't understand why people even do DDoS attacks on video games, just causing grief to people who pay money for these services, luckily it was only around 10 hours the game was suffering from these attacks and was back up and running after that.  

References

http://gamerant.com/ddos-attack-world-of-warcraft-legion/ 

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500256046/TalkTalk-warns-customers-about-personal-data-breach

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/4500260419/Top-10-cyber-crime-stories-of-2015