Lakhasly

Chapter 4: Intellectual Property
Slides prepared by Cyndi Chie and Sarah Frye

Intellectual Property and Changing Technology
What is Intellectual Property?
• The intangible creative work, not its particular physical form
• Value of intelligence and artistic work comes from creativity, ideas, research, skills, labor, non-material efforts and attributes the creator provides
• Protected by copyright and patent law

Intellectual Property and Changing Technology (cont.)
What is Intellectual Property? (cont.)
• Copyright holders have exclusive rights:
– To make copies
– To produce derivative works, such as translations into other languages or movies based on books
– To distribute copies
– To perform the work in public (e.g. music, plays)
– To display the work in public (e.g. artwork, movies, computer games, video on a Web site)

Intellectual Property and Changing Technology (cont.)
Challenges of New Technology:
• Digital technology and the internet has made copyright infringement easier and cheaper
• New compression technologies have made copying large files (e.g. graphics, video and audio files) feasible
• New tools allow us to modify graphics, video and audio files to make derivative works
• Scanners allow us to change the media of a copyrighted work, converting printed text, photos, and artwork to electronic form

Copyright Law and Significant Cases (cont.)
Fair Use Doctrine:
• Four factors considered
– Purpose and nature of use – commercial (less likely) or non-profit purposes
– Nature of the copyrighted work
– Amount of significance or portion used
– Effect of use on potential market or value of the copyright work (will it reduce sales of work?)
• No single factor alone determines
• Not all factors given equal weight, varies by circumstance

Copying and Sharing
Responses from the Content Industries: • Ideasfromthesoftwareindustries
– Expiration dates within the software
– Dongles (a device that must be plugged into a computer port)
– Copy protection that prevents copying
– Activation or registration codes
– Obtained court orders to shut down Internet bulletin boards and Web sites

Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Responses from the Content Industries (cont.): • Banning, suing and taxing
– Ban or delay technology via lawsuits • CD-recording devices
• Digital Audio Tapes (DAT)
• DVD players
• Portable MP3 players
– Require that new technology include copyright
protections
– Tax digital media to compensate the industry for expected losses

Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Digital Rights Management :
• Collectionoftechniquesthatcontrolusesof intellectual property in digital formats
• Includeshardwareandsoftwareschemes using encryption
• Theproducerofafilehasflexibilitytospecify what a user may do with it
• Apple,MicrosoftandSonyallusedifferent schemes of DRM

Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Ethical Arguments About Copying:
• Unlikephysicalproperty,copyingor distributing a song, video, or computer program does not decrease the use or enjoyment by another person
• Copyingcandecreasetheeconomicvalueof creative work produced for sale
• Thefairuseguidelinesareusefulethical guidelines
• Therearemanyargumentsforandagainst unauthorized copying

Copying and Sharing (cont.)
International Piracy:
• Somecountriesdonotrecognizeorprotect intellectual property
• Countriesthathavehighpiracyratesoftendo not have a significant software industry
• Manycountriesthathaveahighamountof piracy are exporting the pirated copies to countries with strict copyright laws
• Economicsanctionsoftenpenalizelegitimate businesses, not those they seek to target

 Free

Domain Names:
• Domain names may be used to criticize or protest (e.g. XYZIsJunk.org)
• Companies sue under trademark violation, but most cases dismissed
• Some companies buy numerous domain names containing their name so others cannot use them

Speech Issues

Free Software
• Free software - idea, an ethic, advocated and supported by large, loose-knit group of computer programmers who allow people to copy, use, and modify their software
• Free means freedom of use, not necessarily lack of cost
• Open source - software distributed or made public in source code (readable and modifiable)
• Proprietary software - (commercial) sold in object code (obscure, not modifiable) (E.g.: Microsoft Office)

Free Software
Should All Software Be Free?
• Would there be sufficient incentives to produce the huge quantity of consumer software available now?
• Would the current funding methods for free software be sufficient to support all software development?
• Should software be covered under copyright law?
• Concepts such as copyleft and the GNU Public License provide alternatives to proprietary software within today's current legal framework

Issues for Software Developers
Patents for Software?
• Patentsprotectinventionsofnewthingsor processes
• TheSupremeCourtsaidthatsoftwarecould not be patented; however a machine that included software could
• Patentsarenotsupposedtobegivenfor things that are obvious or are already in common use
• ThePatentOfficehasmademistakes