Module 6: Intellectual Property
Rights and Computer
Technology
Computer Products and Services
Instruments of Protection
Ownership
Infringement
Protection of Ownership Rights
The Legal Protection of Computer
Software
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Computer products and
services
Computer products
– Have a tangible form
– Have intrinsic value
Computer services
– Have intrinsic value
– Have no tangible form
Computer software
– A set of logical instructions in four forms:
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Computer products and
services…
Logical map
Source code
Object code
Executable code
– Has two forms
Product
Service
– May not have a tangible form
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Computer products and
services…
Computer software categories:
– CANNED- off-the-shelf software
– Designer software – ordered by the customer
– Mixed – designer/canned
If it is canned – it is a product
If it is designer ordered – it is a service
Otherwise a mixed case.
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Foundations of Intellectual Property
Rights
Software is protected by:
(1) Copyrights – rights enforceable by law and
accorded to an artist, inventor/creator of an
expression or creative works: literary, dramatic,
musical, pictorial, graphics, artistic, audiovisual,
architectural, or sound recording.
– The protected works must have:
Tangible form(expression)
Originality
Fixation in a medium
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– Copyrights are now universally accepted
– International enforcement conventions
include:
WIPO- world intellectual property organization
UNESCO
UCC- universal copyright convention
WTO – World Trade Organization
– Once a copyright expires the work goes in
public domain
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– Public works include:
Non-copyrightable items( ideas, facts, schedules, names,
etc..)
Copyrightable items whose copyrights have expired
Copyrightable works put in public domain by the author
– Duration of copyrights:
Depends on country
In U.S.( before 1978, 75 years from date of issue, after 1978
lifetime of author plus 50 years)
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(2) Patents – protection of inventions and
discoveries
– What is protected must be:
New and useful
Improvement of any of the following:
– Process, manufacturing( products that are not machines),
machines(covering mechanism, mechanical products and
composition)
Utility, Novelty, nonobvious, there must be no disclosure.
– Protection duration in U.S. is 17 years
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(3) Trade Secrets
– Information that gives a company a
competitive advantage over the others
– No one specific definition of trade secrets
– It’s a collection of information in a static format
with a strategic importance
– Duration is infinite if no disclosure
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– The following characterize trade secrets:
Extent the information is known outside the
business
Extent of measures taken to protect the trade
secrets
Value of information to the owner
Amount of money spent by owner to develop the
information
Ease/difficulty of acquiring such information
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(4) Trademarks – product identifying labels
– Include:
Service marks
Certification marks
Collective marks
– Characteristic of trademarks include( see
page 138/139):
Arbitrary marks (say nothing but used for service)
Suggestive marks (symbols and writings)
Descriptive marks ( intended purposes)
General marks (unrelated and not suggestive)
– Duration of trademarks in U.S. is 10 years
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– Trademarks are registered in U.S. if they:
Are in good taste for the public
Have no suggestive connotations to their origin
Are not symbols of any recognizable country
Do not use people’s likeness without permission
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(5) Personal Identity
– Identity theft is a crime committed when one
misrepresents oneself, with or without
success, as another person in order to get
the victim’s information so that the perpetrator
can receive goods and services in the fraud
victim's name.
– Identity theft is now one of the fastest
growing crime in US and a number of other
countries as well.
– One goes through an agony trying to control,
manage and recover from the damage
caused
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Techniques to steal personal identity include the following [8]:
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Advertising in newspapers and mostly on the Internet. The most
common technique now, pretext calling, is where people
misrepresent themselves as law enforcement agents, social workers,
and potential employers to obtain the private data of others from
banks and other financial institutions.
From readily available how-to books and discussion groups
perpetrators get foolproof methods of wangling financial information
out of bank employees.
Use of telemarketing scams to trick consumers into revealing
personal data.
Abundant authentic-looking fake IDs, including Social Security
cards, birth certificates and driver's licenses, are on sale online.
Going through one’s trash for personal gold.
Using the post office to redirect one’s mail to a perpetrator’s box
number.
Criminals are increasingly using radio scanners to eavesdrop on
personal calls.
Prevent Identity Theft through personal awareness ( see pg 141)
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Ownership
An idea is novel if it is original, authentic, and
new. Inventiveness, creativity, and discoveries
are born out of individual ideas. Good ideas are
the source of substantial benefits to individuals
and the public.
Before an idea can be useful, however, it must
be put into utilizable form, either as a process or
as an application.
Although ideas are in public domain – dressing
up ideas to make them utilizable crates
ownership of the new form the idea has taken.
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Infringement
Moving within protected domains of
intellectual property rights without
permission from rightful owners
There are three types of infringements:
– Direct (full knowledge)
– Inducement
– Contributory
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Types of infringements
– Copyrights infringement: difficult to prove
Here are some of the items that courts look for in
an infringement suit:
– Whether the infringer has knowledge or visual contact
with the work.
– Whether the individual claiming to be the owner has a
valid copyright.
– Whether the work under dispute is a major revision with
substantially new contents of the original or just a
variation.
– Patent and trademarks infringements are also
difficult to prove
Highly sophisticated methods of policing and
investigative work need to be laid down and
followed
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– Trademark infringement:
To prove infringement of a trademark, one must
prove beyond doubt that the infringer’s action was
likely to confuse the public.
Because of this, it is very difficult to prove
trademark infringement.
– Trade Secrets. Even more difficult.
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Protection of ownership rights
As owner/author of a creation, you’re
protected by:
– Copyrights
– Patents
– Trademark
– Trade secrets
The burden of safeguarding intellectual
property rights is with the individual
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Protection of ownership rights…
Methods used vary from:
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Spying
Using hired operatives
Inspection
Use of enforcement agencies
Use of government (big companies)
First Sale Doctrine – copyright owner’s right to
distribute one’s material through a lease or
license.
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The First Sale Doctrine
A copyright owner under the first sale doctrine
has the right to distribute copies of copyrighted
materials by means of sale, transfer of
ownership, rental, release, or by any other
means.
Fair Use Doctrine – a balance between the
protection of inventor/creator and the benefits to
the community
– There are four ways to judge whether the use of an
invention, discovery, or work is fair or not:
The purpose of use, commercial or educational
Nature of use
Percentage of use
The effect of use on the commercial value of the invention,
discovery, or works.
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Protection of ownership rights…
Under Property Rights Laws, different rights are
protectable as shown here:
Copyrights: Copyright laws protect all rights embodied
within the copyrighted work by the copyright act of the
particular country, including the right to use, transform,
sale, copy, and modify.
Patents: Patent laws protect all rights embodied in the
particular country’s patent law.
Trademarks: Trademark laws protect all rights in the
different trademark statutes depending on the state and
country.
Trade secrets: Trade secret statues and laws protect all
rights within the different states, local authority, and
country’s statutes
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