1 CS 501 Spring 2003 CS 501: Software Engineering Lecture 5 Legal Aspects of Software Engineering I

2 CS 501 Spring 2003 Administration Project Announcements Assignment 1 Submission report to Lecture 7 postponed to: Wednesday evening, February 12, 7:30 to 8:30, Upson B 17.

3 CS 501 Spring 2003 Administration Quizzes The first quiz is on Thursday. Each quiz: 30 minutes open book and notes 2 questions on lectures and required readings to date The best four of the five quizzes will be used in calculating your final grade. Note. Grading of Quiz 1 will be delayed until February 18.

4 CS 501 Spring 2003 Legal Environment Software is developed in a complex legal and economic framework. Every software engineer needs to be aware of some parts of the framework.

5 CS 501 Spring 2003 Legal Topics in Software Jurisdiction (international, federal, state laws) Intellectual property (copyright, patent, trademark) Contracts Privacy Free speech and its limitations (government secrets, obscenity) Complex areas (ISPs, e-commerce)

6 CS 501 Spring 2003 Legal Change Changes in laws usually follow changes in technical world. Lawyers and politicians typically have poor technical backgrounds The interpretation of laws has often never been tested in court because of the cost of litigation. Law usually develops incrementally. As a result, strange analogies are often made between new technological paradigms and old world systems

7 CS 501 Spring 2003 Jurisdiction: Boundaries “The Internet has no boundaries” If you break a law in Finland, but you were on the Internet in the United States, what happens to you? What if you are in California and you break a law in Minnesota? Where do you pay taxes?

8 CS 501 Spring 2003 Jurisdiction: Federal Court System Jurisdictions: United States Constitution International treaties Federal and state statues Precedents 13 Circuits, each with a court of appeals (appellate court) Supreme Court ultimate appellate court Jurisdiction can be a determining

9 CS 501 Spring 2003 Copyright Copyright applies to literary works. Originally applied to textual materials, but gradually extended to cover text, music, photographs, designs, software,... Copyright applies to the expression of ideas (e.g., the words used), not to the ideas themselves, nor to physical items. Software Copyright applies to the program instructions, but not to the concepts behind the instructions, nor to the files on disk or on paper where the programs instructions are stored.

10 CS 501 Spring 2003 Ownership of Copyright (USA) At creation Copyright is automatically owned by the creator. Except works for hire, where the employer owns the copyright. Transfer of copyright In the USA, copyright is property that can be sold or licensed. The agreement to sell or license software is written as a contract. "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." (Attributed to Yogi Berra.)

11 CS 501 Spring 2003 Ownership of Copyright International differences Moral rights In some countries, e.g., Canada, France, the creator of a work retains moral rights, which cannot be sold, for instance the right of attribution. Registration In the USA, copyright is established automatically when something is created. In many countries, it is necessary for the creator to register it to claim copyright.

12 CS 501 Spring 2003 Copyright In the USA, copyright gives the owner exclusive right to: reproduce distribute perform display license Special rules First sale (can sell an object, e.g., a book, without permission of the copyright owner) Fair use (limited use without permission of the copyright owner, e.g., in a review or short quotation)

13 CS 501 Spring 2003 Derivative Software When software is derived from other software: New code is owned by new developer Conditions that apply to old code apply to derived work If you write S, which is derived from A, B, C and D, you cannot distribute or licenses S unless you have right to distribute each of A, B, C and D. To create a software product, you must have documented rights to use every component.

14 CS 501 Spring 2003 Software Copyright Questions You are a student on CS 501. What you finish what use can you make of your project work? What use can Cornell make of it?

15 CS 501 Spring 2003 Software Copyright Questions You are a student on CS 501. What you finish what use can you make of your project work? What use can Cornell make of it? (Answer: At Cornell, students own the copyright in the work that they do for their classes. Anybody else, including Cornell or your client, needs your permission before using the software in any way.)

16 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question When software is written, who owns the copyright? How can somebody else be permitted to use the software? How can copyright be transferred to somebody else?

17 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question When software is written, who owns the copyright? The person who writes the software Except works for hire, where the employer owns copyright How can somebody else be permitted to use the software? By permission from the copyright owner (usually a license) How can copyright be transferred to somebody else? Copyright is property that can be sold or given away (usually a contract)

18 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question You are employed for company X writing software. When you leave, who owns your work? What use can you make of the work?

19 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question You are employed for company X writing software. When you leave, who owns your work? The company (work for hire) What use can you make of the work? None, without permission of the copyright owner. (Perhaps some minor use under "fair use".)

20 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question You work free-lance for company X. When you finish, who owns your work? What use can you make of the work?

21 CS 501 Spring 2003 An Old Exam Question You work free-lance for company X. When you finish, who owns your work? It depends on the circumstances. Have a written contract. What use can you make of the work? If you hold the copyright -- unrestricted. Otherwise -- none without agreement. (Perhaps some minor use under "fair use".)

22 CS 501 Spring 2003 Contracts and Licences Contracts allow intellectual property to be sold or licensed Promise in exchange for some consideration (e.g., money) Written document with signature Permanent or temporary, whole or part Exclusive or non-exclusive Termination, problems and difficulties Terms and conditions as agreed Enforceable by courts For simple agreements, an exchange of letters is a convenient form of contract.

23 CS 501 Spring 2003 Patents Patents apply to inventions Should be: non-obvious, novel, useful Requires a complex process of patent application 17 years from award (20 years from application) Copyright applies to the expression of ideas, patents to the ideas themselves.

24 CS 501 Spring 2003 Software Patents Problems with software patents Poor quality of patent examiners can lead to broad patents for routine computing concepts Usually difficult to know where ideas originate International differences The situation is a serious mess!