TTS1133 : INTERNET ETHICS AND CYBER LAW CHAPTER FIVE Intellectual Property

CONTENT Intellectual Property Intellectual property and changing technology What is intellectual property Issues: competitive intelligence Cybersquatting Problems from new technology Copyright law Copyright – a case example The fair use policy Copying music, movies, software and books From cd / floppies to the web

CONTENT (Cont..) The napster case Software piracy Ethical argument about copying Solutions Technology, market and law Restrictions and bans on technology The future of copyright Free software – issues on an open source Issues for software developers Copyright or patent

What is Intellectual Property? Term used to describe works of the mind, such as art, books, films, formula, invention, music and process that are distinct and that are ‘owned’ or created by single entity. Copyright law Protects authored works Patent laws Protect inventions Trade secret laws Help safeguard information critical to an organization’s success Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

COPYRIGHTS In the United States, the basis of copyright protection is presented in the U.S Constitution. The body of legislation supporting constitutional provisions laws that elaborate on or expand the constitutional protections. Copyrights are designed to protect the expression of ideas. Purpose: to promote distribution of the work, therefore, the work must be distributed. Copyright applied to a creative work: story, photograph, and song and pencil sketch. The right to copy an expression of an idea is protected by copyright. Copyright give the owner the exclusive right to make copies off the expression and sell them to the public. That is, only the author can sell copies of the author’s book. Prepared By: Razif Razali

Definition of Intellectual Property Only the originator of the expression is entitled to copyright. If an expression has no determinable originator, the copyright cannot be granted. The copyright does not cover the idea being expressed. Copyright last for only a limited period of time. The copyrighted expression must also be in tangible medium. A story or art work must be written, printed, recorded, and stored in disk or fixed on some other way. Certain works are considered to be in the public domain, owned by the public, by no one in particular. Example: the song “Happy birthday to you”, “nasi goreng’ recipe. Prepared By: Razif Razali

Originality of Works The work being copyrighted must be original to the author. A work can be copyrighted even if it contains some public domain materials, as long as there is some originality. The author does not even have to identify what is public and what is original. Example: A music historian could copyright a collection of folksongs even if some are in the public domain. A dictionary can be copyrighted and the author could not claim to own the word. Prepared By: Razif Razali

Copyright for Computer Software Can a computer program be copyrighted? YES… Computer program can be copyrighted (1976 copyright law emended in 1980 to include an explicit definition of computer software). However, copyright protection may not be especially desirable from a protection Prepared By: Razif Razali

Copyright for Digital Objects The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) of 1998 clarified some issues of digital objects (such as music files, graphic, images, data in a database, and also computer program), but it left other unclear. Among provision of the DCMA are these: Digital objects can be subject to copyright. It is a crime to circumvent or disable antipiracy functionality built into an object. It is a crime to manufacture, sell, or distribute devices that disable antipiracy functionality or that copy digital object.

PATENTS Protect invention, tangible objects or ways to make them not works of the mind. Intended to apply to the result of science, technology and engineering. A patent can protect a “new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. A patent is designed to protect the device or process for carrying out an idea, not the idea itself. Example: If two composers happen to compose the same song independently at different times, copyright law would allow both of them to have copyright. If two investor devices the same invention, the patent goes to the person who invented it first, regardless of who first filed the patent. Prepared By: Razif Razali

Procedure of registering a Patent The inventor must convince the U.S Patent and Trademark Office that the invention deserves the patent. A patent attorney will research the patent already issued for similar invention. The patent owner uses the patented invention by producing products or by licensing others to produce them. Patent objects sometimes marked with a patent number to warn others that the technology is patented. Prepared By: Razif Razali

TRADE SECRETS Is unlike a patent or copyright in that it must be keep a secret. The information has value only as a secret, and an infringer is one who divulges the secret. Once divulged, the information usually cannot be made secret again Prepared By: Razif Razali

Characteristics of Trade Secrets Trade secret is information that gives one company a competitive edge over others. Example: The formula of soft drinks, mailing list of customers or information about a product due to be announced in a few months. The distinguishing characteristic of a trade secret is that it must always be kept secret. The owner must take precautions to protect the secret such as storing safely, encrypting it in computer file, or making employees sign a statement that they will not disclose the secret. If someone obtains a trade secret improperly and profits from it, the owner can recover profits, damages, lost revenues and legal costs. Prepared By: Razif Razali

Figure: Comparing Copyrights, Patent and Trade Secret Prepared By: Razif Razali

Key Intellectual Property Issues Issues that apply to intellectual property and information technology Plagiarism Reverse engineering Open source code Competitive intelligence Cybersquatting Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Plagiarism Theft and passing off of someone’s ideas or words as one’s own Many students Do not understand what constitutes plagiarism Believe that all electronic content is in the public domain Plagiarism detection systems Check submitted material against databases of electronic content Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Plagiarism (continued) Steps to combat student plagiarism Help students understand what constitutes plagiarism Show students how to document Web pages Schedule major writing assignments in portions Tell students that you know about Internet paper mills Educate students about plagiarism detection services Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Partial List of Plagiarism Detection Services and Software Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Reverse Engineering Process of taking something apart in order to Understand it Build a copy of it Improve it Applied to computer Hardware Software Convert a program code to a higher level design Convert an application that ran on one vendor’s database to run on another’s Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Reverse Engineering (continued) Compiler Language translator Converts computer program statements expressed in a source language to machine language Software manufacturer Provides software in machine language form Decompiler Reads machine language Produces source code Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Reverse Engineering (continued) Courts have ruled in favor of using reverse engineering To enable interoperability Software license agreements forbid reverse engineering Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (SCPA) Established a new type of intellectual property protection for mask works Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Open Source Code Program source code made available for use or modification As users or other developers see fit Basic premise Software improves Can be adapted to meet new needs Bugs rapidly identified and fixed High reliability GNU General Public License (GPL) was a precursor to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Competitive Intelligence Gathering of legally obtainable information To help a company gain an advantage over rivals Often integrated into a company’s strategic plans and decision making Not industrial espionage Nearly 25 colleges and universities offer courses or programs Without proper management safeguards it can cross over to industrial espionage Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

A Manager’s Checklist for Running an Ethical Competitive Intelligence Operation Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Cybersquatting Trademark is anything that enables a consumer to differentiate one company’s products from another’s May be Logo Package design Phrase Sound Word Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Cybersquatting (continued) Trademark law Trademark’s owner has the right to prevent others from using the same mark Or confusingly similar mark Cybersquatters Registered domain names for famous trademarks or company names Hope the trademark’s owner would buy the domain name For a large sum of money Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Cybersquatting (continued) To curb cybersquatting Register all possible domain names .org .com .info Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Current trademark holders are given time to assert their rights in the new top-level domains before registrations are opened to the general public Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Open Source vs. Proprietary Software "Free software" (economic definition) means you don't have to pay for it "Free software" (GNU definition): freedom to run the program, for any purpose freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (open source) freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits

The GNU Public License: Copyleft (www.gnu.org) Copyleft: a general method for making a program free software and requiring all modified and extended versions of the program to be free software as well." Ethical question: Should you make available to other software engineers (even those who work for other companies) reusable software of your own making? Ethical question: does the proprietary software business model allow the patching of O.S. security exploits as well as the open source model?

NAPSTER What did Napster allow its users to do? Make MP3 files stored on individual computer hard drives available for copying by other Napster users Search for MP3 music files stored on other users’ computers Transfer exact copies of the contents of other users’ MP3 files from one computer to another via the internet

NAPSTER

NAPSTER CASE Napster was engaged in the commercial recording, distribution and sale of copyrighted musical compositions and sound recordings. A&M alleges that Napster, Inc. is a contributing and explicit copyright infringer. By July 2000, the courts prevented Napster "from engaging in, or facilitating others in copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting, or distributing copyrighted musical compositions and sound recordings, without express permission of the rights owner. Napster had to post a bond for damages at $5 million.

Summary Intellectual property is protected by Copyrights Patents Trade secrets Plagiarism is stealing and passing off the ideas and words of another as one’s own Reverse engineering Process of breaking something down In order to understand, build copy, or improve it Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Summary (continued) Open source code Competitive intelligence Made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit Competitive intelligence Not industrial espionage Uses legal means and public information Cybersquatting Registration of a domain name by an unaffiliated party Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition