A Dynamic Framework for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the Cyberspace

This chapter looks at the protection of intellectual property rights in cyber space. The general trend in advances in technology shows that regulatory frameworks on the protection of intellectual property rights applicable to geographical boundaries cannot keep pace with changes in technology and in effect regulatory effort of the same rights in the cyberspace remains a challenge. The existing legal and/or regulatory framework applicable geographically cannot be effectively applied in cyberspace because of lack of a central policing mechanism. Thus, there is need to develop an appropriate regulatory framework for the protection of intellectual property rights in the cyberspace. In this study, the mode of protection of intellectual property rights was reviewed and the effectiveness of existing regulatory frameworks covering intellectual property rights was evaluated. A dynamic regulatory framework for protecting digitised intellectual property rights that can accommodate changes and/or advances in technology and also enactments and/or amendments of legislations governing intellectual property rights which can serve as a governing framework for cooperating countries such as the COMESA countries was designed and recommended. In designing the framework, an object-oriented approach was adopted to take care of the uniqueness of cyberspace and also changes in information and communication technology. The object-oriented approach focused on classes and instances of classes also known as objects. The class which encompasses the different intellectual property rights like copyrights, patents or trademarks specifies what data and function are included in the object or instance of a given class