Chapter 6: Intellectual Property

Professional Computing Issues

CPIS 428
Dr. Thoria Alghamdi
Lecture 9
Learning Objectives
• What does the term intellectual property encompass, and what
measures can organizations take to protect their intellectual
property?
• What are some of the current issues associated with the
protection of intellectual property?
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property: Describes works of the mind that are distinct
and owned or created by a single person or group
• Art and music
• Books and film
• Formulas, inventions and processes
• Owners control and receive compensation for the use of their
intellectual property
• Intellectual property is protected through:
• Copyright
• Patent
• Trade secret laws
Source: [Link]
Copyright, Part 1
• Copyright: The exclusive right to distribute, display, perform, or
reproduce an original work in copies, or to prepare derivative
works based on the work
• Copyright infringement: A violation of the rights secured by the
owner of a copyright
• Copyright law guarantees developers the rights to their works for a
certain amount of time.
• Eligibility criteria: Work must be original and fall within one of the
categories described in Title 17 of the U.S. Code
Copyright, Part 2
• Fair use doctrine: Allows portions of copyrighted materials to be
used without permission
• Court decisions regarding fair use are based on four factors:
- Purpose and character of the use
- Nature of the copyrighted work
- The portion of the work used in relation to the whole
- Effect of the use on the value of the copyrighted work
• Software copyright protection
• Proving infringement requires showing striking resemblance that
could be explained only by copying
Mino vs. Tetris
• Xio Interactive was a small company formed for the purpose of
creating an unlicensed iPhone version of Tetris—named Mino.
• Tetris filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the
company.
• Xio argued it only copied the rules and basic functionality of the
game, and not its more original components (no infringement).
• The court agreed that the fundamental rules and basic
functionality of the game could not be protected, it pointed out
that many other elements of the game had been copied,
including the color, shape, and number of game bricks; how the
pieces were formed from the game bricks; and the manner in
which the pieces moved. Screen shots of the games viewed
side by side were nearly identical.
• The court ruled that Xio was permanently banned from selling,
displaying, or promoting the Mino game.
Should a
software be
Software Patents

given a
patent?
Intellectual Property for Software
• At one time, software was even judged to be a series of mental
steps, making it inappropriate for ownership and ineligible for any
form of protection.
• Software has sometimes been treated as the expression of an
idea, which can be protected under copyright law.
• The copyright holder must show a striking resemblance between its
software and the new software that could be explained only by copying.
• In other cases, software has been treated as a process for
changing a computer’s internal structure, making it eligible for
protection under patent law.
[Link]
Copyright, Part 3
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• Multilateral agreement governing international trade
• Established the World Trade Organization (WTO)
- Goal: to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers
conduct their business globally
• Despite GATT, copyright protection varies greatly from country to country
Copyright, Part 4
• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS)
• Established minimum levels of protection that each government must
provide to the intellectual property of
all WTO members
• The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty
(1996):
• Encourages the use of intellectual property as a means
to stimulate innovation and creativity
• Ensures that computer programs are protected as literary works; also
protects the arrangement and selection of material in databases
 Copyright, Part 5

Form of Intellectual Property Key Terms of the WTO TRIPS Agreement

Copyright • Computer programs are protected as literary works.
• Authors of computer programs and producers of sound recordings have
the right to prohibit the commercial rental of their works to the public.

Patent • Patent protection is available for any invention, whether a product or

process.
• Discrimination is not allowed based on the place of invention.
Trade secret • Trade secrets must be protected against breach of confidence and other
acts that are contrary to honest commercial practices.
‫يتم الرجوع إلى الهيئة السعودية للملكية‬
‫الفكرية لتسجيل حقوق الملكية الفكرية‬
Patents, Part 1
• Patent: A grant of a property right issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) to an inventor
• Permits its owner to exclude the public from making,
using, or selling a protected invention
• Prevents independent creation as well as copying
• Before granting a patent, the USPTO searches the prior art (the existing body of
knowledge available to a person of ordinary skill in the art, including existing
patents and published material).
• The following cannot be patented
• Abstract ideas
• Laws of nature
• Natural phenomenon
[Link]
King Abdulaziz University
Patents, Part 2
• Patent infringement: Unauthorized use of another’s patent
• Courts can award up to three times the amount of damages claimed
by the patent holder if infringement is found
• Software patent: Protects a feature, function, or process
embodied in instructions executed on a computer
• In recent years, the courts have become more restrictive
in granting software patents.
 Patents, Part 3
Samsung and Cisco enter IP cross-licensing Agreement |

• Cross-licensing agreements
• Each party agrees not to sue the
other over patent infringements
• Typically involves large software
companies
• Small businesses, therefore, often
must pay additional costs.
• Small businesses are generally
unsuccessful in enforcing their
patents against larger companies.
Trade Secrets, Part 1
• Trade secret: Business information that has the following
qualities:
• Represents something of economic value
• Required effort or cost to develop
• Has some degree of uniqueness or novelty
• Is generally unknown to the public
• Is kept confidential
• Trade secret law protects only against the misappropriation of
trade secrets.
Trade Secrets, Part 2
• Trade secret laws protect more technology worldwide than patent
laws do.
• Trade secret laws vary greatly from country to country.

• Key advantages:
• No time limitations on the protection of trade secrets
• No need to file an application, make disclosures to any person or
agency, or disclose a trade secret to outsiders to gain protection
• Trade secrets cannot be ruled invalid by the courts
Trade Secrets, Part 3
• Employees are the greatest threat
• What should organization do?
• Educate employees
• Label the information clearly as confidential and limit the
accessibility
• When an employee is leaving:
- Nondisclosure clause: prohibits an employee from revealing company
secrets
- Noncompete agreement: prohibits an employee from working for any
competitors for a period of time
Key Intellectual Property Issues
• Plagiarism
• Reverse Engineering
• Open-Source Code
• Competitive Intelligence
Plagiarism
• Plagiarism: The act of stealing someone’s ideas or words and
passing them off as one’s own
• Actions that schools can take to combat student plagiarism:
• Help students understand what constitutes plagiarism and why they
need to cite sources
• Show students how to document material found online
• Schedule major writing assignments in portions due over the course
of the term
• Tell students that instructors are aware of Internet paper mills and
plagiarism detection services
• Incorporate detection software and services
Reverse Engineering
• Reverse engineering: The process of taking something apart in order
to understand it, build a copy of it, or improve it
• Applicable for both hardware and software
• Violates copyright and trade secret laws
• Software license agreements typically forbid reverse engineering.
• The courts have ruled in favor of using reverse engineering to enable
interoperability.
• Reverse engineering can also be a useful tool in detecting software
bugs and security holes.
Open-Source Code
• Open-source code: Any program whose source code is made available
for use or modification, as users or other developers see fit
• Advocates believe open-source code produces better software than the
traditional closed model
• Reasons for developing open-source code:
• To earn respect for solving a problem
• To pay back the developer community
• To promote expertise and/or attract new clients
• To recover maintenance cost
• To avoid the hassle of license and marketing
Competitive Intelligence
• Competitive intelligence: Legally obtained information gathered to
help a company gain an advantage over rivals
• Integrated into a company’s strategic plans and decision making
• Not the same as industrial espionage (the use of illegal means to obtain
business information)
• Sources of competitive intelligence data:
• Annual and quarterly reports
• Promotional materials and websites
• Credit reports and investment analyses
• Software applications, databases, and social media tools, such as
Rapportive, Crunchbase, CORI, and [Link]
 A Manager’s Checklist for Running an Ethical Competitive
Intelligence Operation, Part 1

QUESTION YES NO
• Has the competitive intelligence organization developed a mission statement,
objectives, goals, and a code of ethics?
• Has the company’s legal department approved the mission statement, objectives,
goals, and code of ethics?
• Do analysts understand the need to abide by their organization’s code of ethics and
corporate policies?
• Is there a rigorous training and certification process for analysts?
• Do analysts understand all applicable laws—domestic and international—including
the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Defend Trade Secrets Act, and the Economic Espionage
Act, and do they understand the critical importance of abiding by them?
 A Manager’s Checklist for Running an Ethical Competitive
Intelligence Operation, Part 2

QUESTION YES NO
• Do analysts disclose their true identity as well as the name of their organization
prior to any interviews?
• Do analysts understand that everything their firm learns about the competition
must be obtained legally?
• Do analysts respect all requests for anonymity and confidentiality of information?
• Has the company’s legal department approved the processes for gathering data?
• Do analysts provide honest recommendations and conclusions?
• Is the use of third parties to gather competitive intelligence carefully reviewed and
managed?
Trademark Infringement
• Trademark: A logo, package design, phrase, sound, or word
that enables a consumer to differentiate
one company’s products from another’s
• Can be renewed forever, so long as a mark is in use
Nominative Fair Use
• Nominative fair use: A defense employed by the defendant in a
trademark infringement case, requires proving the following:
• Plaintiff’s product or service cannot be readily identifiable without
using the plaintiff’s mark
• Defendant uses only as much of the plaintiff’s mark as necessary to
identify the defendant’s product or service
• Defendant does nothing with the plaintiff’s mark that suggests
endorsement or sponsorship by the plaintiff
End of lecture 9