Intellectual Property Quiz

Chapter 4: Intellectual Property

• Chapter 4 of "Ethics for the Information Age", Eighth Edition by Michael J. Quinn, focuses on intellectual property.
• Learning objectives cover a range of topics related to intellectual property, including introduction, rights, protection, fair use, digital media, peer-to-peer networks, software protections, legitimacy of software protection, open-source software, and Creative Commons.
• Information technology has significantly changed the landscape of intellectual property. Access to high-quality media (TV, music, movies, computer programs) has a greater value than their cost, but illegal copying is prevalent and spreads quickly via the internet.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocates for copyright law reform in the U.S. to fairly compensate artists while supporting music lovers.
• Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, including inventions and literary/artistic works, symbols, names, and images used in commerce.
• Intellectual property is intangible; it is not a physical manifestation.
• Locke's theory of property rights suggests that individuals have a natural right to the things they have removed from nature through their labor. This is then extrapolated to the concept of intellectual property.
• The analogy of writing a play to making a belt buckle, where both authors concurrently arrive at a similar product, illustrates the inherent imperfection of using a physical-property analogy to determine ownership of intellectual property.
• Intellectual property protection offers benefits such as incentivizing creative works, but also has limitations because society benefits when inventions enter the public domain.
• The U.S. Congress balances these interests by granting protection for a limited time.
• Prices for works fall when they enter the public domain, as shown by a table.
• Trade secrets are confidential pieces of intellectual property providing a competitive advantage for businesses. They don't expire. Reverse engineering is permitted. Employee turnover may compromise trade secrets.
• Trademarks and service marks identify goods and services. Companies can establish a brand name, which doesn't expire. If a brand name becomes common knowledge, the trademark might be lost.
• Patents are public documents detailing an invention. They grant exclusive rights for 20 years.
• Copyright protects the rights of original works. It covers reproduction, distribution, public display, public performance, and production of derivative works.
• Copyright-related industries represent a substantial portion of the U.S. economy.
• Key court cases and legislation related to IP demonstrate legal interpretations of copyright/IP infringement within a technological context.
• There's a history of copyright creep; the duration of copyright protection has grown since 1790.
• Case studies (like Database Guru), are used to analyze ethical considerations with varying approaches to similar dilemmas.
• Different ethical theories (Kantian, social contract, Act-Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics) are applied to these scenarios to evaluate the best course of action.
• Copyright's scope has expanded greatly with the digital age.
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) is another way to protect intellectual property in a digital format by mechanisms like encryption and marking.
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a major revision of copyright law.
• There may be conflicts with other technologies/practices ("ripping", "space shifting", "watermarking"), which may lead to legal cases and debates.
• Software copyrights protect the expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves, and object programs, not source programs. Copying or distributing software, pre-loading on computers, and distributing online can infringe on software copyrights.
• Court rulings like "Apple Computer v. Franklin Computer," "Sega v. Accolate," and "Oracle v. Google" are significant in defining fair use principles for software.
• Safe software development strategies aim to prevent unconscious copying by developing a different approach that is based on the competitor's specifications.
• Software patents are a significant component of the software industry, though controversial due to the possibility of patent trolls and overly broad, indefinite patents.
• Smartphone patent disputes showcase the intricacies and costliness associated with intellectual property protection in the tech sector.
• The Supreme Court case of "Alice Corporation v. CLS Bank" significantly impacted the patent landscape for software and business.
• There's a continued debate as to the best balance between protecting intellectual property rights and allowing for public use.
• The ongoing evolution of intellectual property law continues to adapt to the changing digital landscape.
• Open-source software is an alternative to proprietary software and has some advantages such as wider accessibility and development improvements.
• Creative Commons licenses are used to specify fair use stipulations for copyrighted work.
• Piracy/file sharing pressures companies to streamline intellectual property protection
• Streaming services are an example of a response to the changing consumers' attitudes toward music and video.

4.1 Introduction

• Introduction on the information age and how technology affects handling intellectual properties.

4.2 Intellectual Property Rights

• Definitions of different forms of intellectual property, like inventions, literary/artistic works/symbols, their relation to the physical form, and the basis of ownership.

4.3 Protecting Intellectual Property

• Various methods to protect IP, such as trade secrets, trademarks, and patents.

4.4 Fair Use

• Definition of the circumstances in which reproduction of a copyrighted work is allowed without explicit permission.
• Key factors courts use to judge if something is fair use: purpose of use, nature of work, amount copied, and its effect on the market.

4.5 Digital Media

• DRM strategies, the history and operation of technological mechanisms for copyright protection in digital content.

4.6 Peer-to-Peer Networks and Cyberlockers

• Discussion of peer-to-peer networks, including what they are, how they operate, and their uses/applications.
• Description of cyberlocker (e.g., file-hosting services, cloud storage) and their relationship with sharing copyrighted content.

4.7 Protections for Software

• Software protection through copyrights, which often involves the expression of ideas (rather than the ideas themselves) within an object's program (rather than the source).
• Methods firms use to protect source code, and the cases illustrating instances of copyright infringement for software.

4.8 Legitimacy of Intellectual Property Protection for Software

• Discussion of legal rights-based arguments related to intellectual property and software.

4.9 Open-Source Software

• Description of "open-source" software model and its differences to proprietary software.
• Discussion on how open-source development works, its benefits, and potential applications.

4.10 Creative Commons

• An approach to streamline re-use of copyrighted works.
• Discussion of how works are treated under Creative Commons.