intellectual property (cont.) 1

Software as intellectual property 2  The law concerning software is not clear and is steal being formulated  In USA Copyright Act amended in 1980 to include software as a literary work Software has some characteristics of literary works and some of engineered systems. Protected by both copyright and patent Protected by trade secret legislation

Software and law 3  Nature of software.....challenges notions of intellectual property  The source code of software in text form and can be thought of as a literary work. However, the value of the software is in its functions and not its form  The purpose of software is to perform a useful function which makes it more like an invention Because software can be presented as a mathematical algorithm, it isn't patentable (algorithms cant be patented)  The software you “buy” is often obtained under license and you do not own it

Software piracy 4  The biggest problem concerning computer software and IPR is software Piracy software piracy as the act of copying,distributing, or using proprietary software.  Software vendors distinguish between 2 classes of software piracy:  Commercial piracy Large scale copying By illegal orgs  Casual piracy Small scale...give a copy of program to a friend  Solution for piracies: Codes/serial numbers/ product code via phone/product activation Spywares...report illegal use to vendors(soft without license)

Key Intellectual Property Issues  Issues that apply to intellectual property and information technology  Plagiarism  Cybersquatting

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

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  Educate students about plagiarism detection services

Plagiarism Detection Services and Software

Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition 9 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

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

Cybersquatting (continued)  To control 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

Summary  Intellectual property is any unique product of the human intellect that has commercial value.  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  Cybersquatting  Registration of a domain name by an unaffiliated party

13

14

15