Applications of Writing, Hacking, and Intellectual Property Brian Ballentine West Virginia Gribben Lecture Series Oct. 24, 2014

Software Product Brochure 2

Design Docs & Requirement Specs 3

Epistemic Writing & Rhetoric 4 Design Documentation Requirement Specifications Material Good/Product

Epistemic Writing & Rhetoric 5 Design Documentation Requirement Specifications COPYRIGHT Material Good/Product COPYRIGHT

Epistemic Writing & Rhetoric 6 Design Documentation Requirement Specifications COPYRIGHT Material Good/Product COPYRIGHT TRADEMARK PATENT

Writing, Rhetoric, & Patents 7

8

Amazon’s 1-Click 9

A method and system for placing an order to purchase an item via the Internet. The order is placed by a purchaser at a client system and received by a server system. The server system receives purchaser information including identification of the purchaser, payment information, and shipment information from the client system. The server system then assigns a client identifier to the client system and associates the assigned client identifier with the received purchaser information. The server system sends to the client system the assigned client identifier and an HTML document identifying the item and including an order button. The client system receives and stores the assigned client identifier and receives and displays the HTML document. In response to the selection of the order button, the client system sends to the server system a request to purchase the identified item. The server system receives the request and combines the purchaser information associated with the client identifier of the client system to generate an order to purchase the item in accordance with the billing and shipment information whereby the purchaser effects the ordering of the product by selection of the order button. 10

Engineering Journals 11

Interface Trademarks 12

Interface Trademarks 13

Software Patents 14

“Within the virtual space represented by these interfaces, and elsewhere within computer systems, the values of our culture – ideological, political, economic, educational – are mapped both implicitly and explicitly, constituting a complex set of material relations among culture, technology, and technology users.” - Selfe & Selfe, “The Politics of the Interface,” Contributing to the Code…with Writing

“Interface design is often considered to be a technical rather than a rhetorical endeavor, but I contend…that interface design problems are more like writing than programming problems and that although all projects have technical aspects, mathematical and scientific formalisms are inadequate in design situations that involve social concerns and interactions.” - Selber, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age,

Contributing to the Code…with Writing “Technical communicators seek greater influence in designing interfaces because they see it as a fundamentally rhetorical domain, and therefore more appropriately in our control than in the hands of programmers.” - Savage, “Toward Professional Status in Technical Communication,”

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 18

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 19

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 20

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 21

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 22

Contributing to the Code…with Writing 23

Contributing to the Code…with Writing Why is this important? Composing detailed narratives within the requirements specifications can produce flexible interfaces that allow for complex problem solving. Writing is understood as facilitating the development of a software application’s functionality, design, and even code. Writing may produce breakthroughs in code production, i.e., be shown to have an epistemic function. Writing can be traced directly to IP. 24

Epistemic Writing & Rhetoric 25 Design Documentation Requirement Specifications COPYRIGHT Material Good/Product COPYRIGHT TRADEMARK PATENT

IP & the Incentive Model Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution reads, “The Congress shall have Power…To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

Hacker Ethic Hacking is “the dedication to an activity that is intrinsically interesting, inspiring, and joyous.”

Epistemic Rhetoric & Writing…but no IP In 1932, a group of American fashion manufacturers found themselves beset by a proliferation of cheap knockoffs. Designs, then as now, were not protected by patents or copyrights, so the manufacturers decided to take direct action to stop the copying. They set up the Fashion Originators Guild of America to monitor retailers and keep track of original designs; if you look at vintage dresses from the thirties, you can find labels reading “A registered original design with Fashion Originators Guild.” Retailers selling knockoffs were “red-carded,” and guild members wouldn’t sell their merchandise to red-carded stores. This was unpopular with the retailers, but it seems to have put a damper on the copying. The only hitch in the plan was that it was illegal: in 1941, the Supreme Court ruled that the manufacturers’ arrangement violated antitrust law, and the knockoff artists stayed in business. 28

Epistemic Rhetoric & Writing…but no IP 29 Fashion Sketches COPYRIGHT Material Good/Product NO PATENT NO COPYRIGHT TRADEMARK (limited)

Trademark Protection 30

Costs & Incentives 31 $ $ $198.00

Epistemic Rhetoric & Writing…but no IP 32 Fashion Sketches COPYRIGHT Material Good/Product NO PATENT NO COPYRIGHT TRADEMARK (limited)

Session 3 Prompt According to legal scholar Jonathan Barnett (2005), the counterfeits may actually flip the standard incentive thesis underpinning IP law (that is, more IP protection means more incentive to invent). His argument is in two parts. 1) Introduction of imperfect counterfeits may enable producers to charge an enhanced “ snob premium ” to “elite” consumers eager to distinguish themselves from the “non-elite” consumers who visibly settle for the fakes. 2) Sales by counterfeiters advertise, and even exaggerate, the popularity of the relevant item, thereby arguably leading some non-elite consumers to adjust upward their estimate of the expected status benefits to be gained by visibly owning the original (1384-5). 33

Counterfeits 34

Thank you! Brian Ballentine West Virginia