Labourer’s Intellectual Property Rights in the Iraqi Laws: An Analytical Comparative Study

Abstract

The term of intellectual property rights refers to the rights in copyright, designs, patents, circuit layouts, trademarks and plant breeder’s rights. It also includes the doctrines of passing off and breach of confidence. The role of intellectual property rights is significant in the global economy; they are the only assets that some corporations possess. In the most cases, labourers create such inventions in the course of their work. Therefore, modern laws around the world state specific provisions for regulating the ownership of such rights when the work is made by an employee. The present research aims at analysing legal provisions of Iraqi law in the field and comparing them to those of the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). It focuses on four main intellectual creations: copyright, patents, designs and plant varieties. Finally, the study points out some suggestions and updates to be made in the relevant Iraqi laws.

Keywords

• Intellectual Property Law
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Employee Creations
• Intellectual Property Ownership
• Copyright
• Patent
• Design
• Plant Varieties