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

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

Intellectual Property and Changing Technology (cont.) What is Intellectual Property?o Patentsprotectinventionsofnewthingsor processes o TheSupremeCourtsaidthatsoftwarecould not be patented; however a machine that included software could o Patentsarenotsupposedtobegivenfor things that are obvious or are already in common use o ThePatentOfficehasmademistakeso Would there be sufficient incentives to produce the huge quantity of consumer software available now?o Would the current funding methods for free software be sufficient to support all software development?o Should software be covered under copyright law?

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