Intellectual Property and Computer Science By Daniel Bray COSC 480

Goals for today. Attempt to define IP: – Its importance and scope. Briefly mention the origin of IP. Focus in on IP as it relates to CS professionals.

What is Intellectual Property? A term with broad meaning in common use. United States Patent and Trademark Office “It is imagination made real. It is the ownership of dream, an idea, an improvement, an emotion that we can touch, see, hear, and feel.”

What is Intellectual Property? World Intellectual Property Organization (1967) An agency of the UN. “Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.”

What is Intellectual Property? Understood by examining categories of law. Patents – Inventions, technologies, designs Copyrights – Expressions of ideas. Movies, music, text, source code, and other media Trademarks – Symbols that represent products and companies Secrets – Trade secrets and personal privacy

Origins of Intellectual Property. Purpose was to grant ownership rights so that inventors and writers could receive due compensation for their work. Berne Convention(1886) Queen Elizabeth I(1600's) As times change, laws change, IP is expanded.

IP and CS - Patents Define and protect ownership rights of inventors. Licensing – Defines the terms of how others may use the IP. In CS this covers both software and hardware implementation of technologies. Touch screen monitor, CD, audio/video encoding/decoding

IP and CS - Patents Patent laws vary from country to country. – Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Each country has its own agency to regulate patent law : United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent protection must be applied for separately. Patent disputes are generally decided in civil courts.

IP and CS – Not Patentable Scientific discoveries or mathematical processes. – “Effective” patenting of science and mathematical discoveries. Software – Generally covered by copyrights Medical treatment methods Animal and plant breeds

IP and CS - Copyrights Virtually every country in the world acknowledges copyrights. No need for registration or application of rights. Applies to software. Source code and machine code. Owner may grant software license for use.

IP and CS - Privacy of Information Number of laws that the rights of privacy of various entities, and the fair use of that information. Trade Secret Laws - Corporations Personal Privacy Laws

Trademarks Trademarks – symbols that represent products and companies. Unique. Many laws defend this trait. Denoted by ® for registered trademarks, TM for unregistered trademarks.

Licensing Terms of license are determined by the owner of the patent or copyright, detailed in a license agreement. Terms of use can be any number of things  Who can use it  Duration  Number of installations  What may be modified  etc...

Types of Licenses End User License Agreements. Used by proprietary software, owner maintains all rights, users must accept ALL terms of agreement. Includes virtually all commercially sold products. User must abide by terms of agreements or may potentially face civil penalties.

Types of Licenses Free Software Licenses Usually free of restrictions for personal use, restrictions come into effect if software is redistributed. Does NOT grant user ownership of software or unlimited rights to software. Used in open source software.

Types of Licenses GNU General Public License(Copyleft): User may not charge for software, must provide source code independent of redistribution, may not place additional restrictions on license. Does not preclude successful business models. – Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Types of Licenses Permissive Software License Users may place limited restrictions on redistribution. BSD License, UC Berkeley for UNIX

IP and Websites Credit to Judith Silver, CA attorney specializing in IP law. The ABCs of Website Law, 2001 – If you find yourself in a position that is responsible for the content and maintenance of a website, what is required?

IP and Websites Privacy Policy, enforced by FTC Any commercial institution which collects personal information about someone must have a clear statement that explains their information sharing practices. Identify who is collecting data, how will data be used, who might receive the data, what data is collected, security of data, the option to decline, and redress.

IP and Websites Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (2000)(COPPA) Forbids the collection of personal information of a child under the age of 13 without parental consent. Enhanced requirements of privacy policy. Must identify parent by telephone call, with digital signature, verification of credit card, snail-mail.

IP and Websites Information in the source of any HTML document cannot be considered a trade secret as it it publicly available. Every page should be marked with a notice of copyright, the date, and the copyright owner. Trade marks owned by you should be appropriately marked.

IP and Websites During disputes, trademark holders are given preference for ownership of domain names. Websites can be removed from the internet if their names defame a trademark name. Trademark names cannot be used in the meta tags of competitors websites.

IP and Websites Websites that contain any interactivity among users should contain a User Agreement. Reduced liability, determine jurisdiction. All information on a website must be true and accurate according to the FCC. Trademark images should not be used as links.

IP and Websites Intermediaries of users who exchange copyrighted material unlawfully can still be held liable. DMCA – safe harbor exemption: If it can be shown within reason that the intermediary did not know about the sharing of material.

Web Resources