CSI2911 / SEG2911 / ELG2911
Professional Practice
Pratique professionnelle
TOPIC 5
Intellectual Property
Copyright / Droit d’auteur
Applies to written and artistic work as well as software
• “exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish and sell a
work”
• http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/ccl/aboutCopyright.htm
l
• “le droit exclusif de reproduire, de publier et de vendre
une œuvre”
• http://publications.gc.ca/site/fra/dacol/aProposDroitAute
ur.html
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Details about copyrights
Who owns the copyright
• The author or her/his employer, performer, recording
maker, broadcaster
• Can be assigned (transferred or sold)
How long does it last
• Fifty years after the end of the year in which the
author/creator dies
• After that, works are in the public domain
Copyright protects the expression of ideas, not the ideas
themselves
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Copyright is automatic
Does not need to be registered
• The Berne convention ensures your copyright holds
around the world
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Patents / Brevets
Canadian definition
• “a right, granted by government, to exclude others from
making, using, or selling your invention in Canada”.
• http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernetinternetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr00001.html
• “le droit que vous donne le gouvernement d'empêcher
d'autres personnes de fabriquer, d'employer ou de vendre
votre invention au Canada.”
• http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernetinternetopic.nsf/fra/h_wr00001.html
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Details about patents
Designed to ensure that ideas are made public and so
technology can advance
• However in software, many argue that there are so many
ideas in any program that patents hinder progress
Priority for who get patent largely ‘first to file’
Must be applied for in every country where you want
protection
• Patent Cooperation Treaty allows patent priority date to
be the same in multiple countries
• Filing in the US is critical
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Criteria for granting patents
Must be novel, useful and non-obvious to be ‘granted’
• Examination can take several years before approval
Non-obviousness
• Obvious if an “unimaginative skilled technician, in light
of his general knowledge and the literature and
information on the subject available to him, would have
been led directly and without difficulty to [the]
invention.”
Novelty: No prior art that demonstrates someone has
made the invention before
• E.g. another patent in Canada or elsewhere
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Details about patents
Valid until 20 years after date of filing or until
abandoned, whichever comes first
• Made public 18 months after filing
Somebody can sue you to invalidate your patent
• E.g. if they believe your patent is obvious or not novel
If you sue someone else for infringement,
• You may win damages
• Or the defendant might be found not to be violating your
patent
• Or your patent may be found to not be valid
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Patenting is expensive
Requires fees to file the patent and to ‘maintain’ it
• Plus fees for ‘patent agents’ to help you through the
process
Patent examiners often raise objections, requiring
changes before a patent is granted
• There may be many iterations
If you believe someone is infringing on your patent, you
sue them
• If you don’t do this, might as well not have the patent
since ability to sue is the only way to get benefit out of a
patent
Ownership of patents can be assigned to others (sold)
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Trade secret
A secret you hold about some technological idea that is
not protected by patent
• Can be stolen
• You can sue the thief, but it is too late to prevent
everybody else from using the idea
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Top Hat Monocle question: Software
Intellectual Property
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