Kingdom of Novatainia->Gralus

[Andreas the Wise]

Small Commonwealth Intellectual Property Protection Act (SCIPPA)

1. Any nation who has signed the Convention on the Establishment of a Commonwealth Court may sign this treaty.

2. Trademarks
a. Definition – a name, slogan, motto, or piece of art that a company associates with a product, line of products, business plan, or the company at large.
b. Trademarks cannot be modified and still retain their protection under SCIPPA. This includes changing the spelling of a name, the words in a motto or slogan, or the graphic or colors of an image. If a change is made a new trademark is created and proof of ownership of the new trademark is required independently of the original.
i. Extremely minor changes may be exempt to this rule. The Small Commonwealth Court will determine if a change counts as extremely minor.
c. The owner(s) of a trademark, being by default its creator(s), may, at any time, choose to abandon the trademark, or to transfer full ownership of it to another entity.

3. Intellectual Property
a. Definition – any creative effort that can be claimed by a single individual or a group with known, discrete members. Creative efforts include songs, poems, works of art, stories, essays, editorials, or any other media that can reasonably be inferred as to being appropriate for this protection.
b. Intellectual property is protected under the SCIPPA and the Commonwealth Court for all citizens of all nations in the Small Commonwealth. It is not necessary to apply for or register intellectual property – only be able to prove ownership if the need arises.
c. The owner(s) of the intellectual property, being by default its creator(s), has the right to sell or give their property to any individual or organization they choose. However, once they have relinquished control, they are no longer the owner in any legal sense.

4. Copyright
a. Copyright refers to the Small Commonwealth Court's protection over trademarks and intellectual property.
b. The copyright protection includes:
i. No other individual or group may take credit for the content’s creation.
ii. No other individual or group may use the content without permission.
iii. No other individual or group may reproduce or alter the content without permission.
iv. No other individual or group may make profit, including any reasonably inferred form of indirect profit, from use of the content.
c. At any point, the owner(s) of the creative effort may voluntarily waive copyright protection for whatever purposes they desire, either to a certain individual or group, or to the general public at large. They may also cease waiving copyright protection at any time.

5. Violations
a. Any citizen, group of individuals, or corporate entity may file a claim of copyright infringement to the Commonwealth Court. This will start an investigation hearing to determine if the claim holds merit.
b. Claims will be judged by the Small Commonwealth Court on the following criteria:
i. Original creation of material (date and evidence)
ii. Proof of a transfer of ownership, if the owner(s) is not the original creator(s).
c. Copyright infringement claims must be filed for any action to occur. Claims not filed with result in no legal action even if the copyright law is clearly being violated.
d. Signers of this treaty are obligated to accepting the court's ruling in a copyright violation claim by making sure any at fault parties in their citizen bases comply with the court's rulings and cease use of copyrighted materials. There is no mandatory criminal or economic penalty for violating copyright claim, though nations can handle any domestic penalties they wish under their own law systems.

6. Any trademarks intellectual property created before the passage of this act shall automatically be considered under Small Commonwealth Court copyright protection.

7. This Convention may be amended by a qualified majority of the State Parties exceeding three fourths of the votes cast.

Signed for the Gralan Empire:
Nargoth, Lord General
Tuesday November 1st