Ethics in Information Technology, Second Edition

Chapter 6 Intellectual Property

Objectives
What does the term intellectual property encompass, and why are companies so concerned abo t protecting it! What are the strengths and limitations of sing copyrights, patents, and trade secret laws to protect intellect al property! What is plagiarism, and what can be done to combat it!
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Objectives #contin ed$

What is reverse engineering, and what iss es are associated with applying it to create a loo%&ali%e of a competitor's software program! What is open so rce code, and what is the f ndamental premise behind its se! What is the essential difference between competitive intelligence and ind strial espionage, and how is competitive intelligence gathered!
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Objectives #contin ed$

What is cybers) atting, and what strategy sho ld be sed to protect an organi*ation from it!

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What is Intellect al ,roperty!

Term sed to describe wor%s of the mind
- .istinct and /owned0 or created by a person or gro p

1opyright law
- ,rotects a thored wor%s

,atent laws
- ,rotect inventions

Trade secret laws

- 2elp safeg ard information critical to an organi*ation's s ccess
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1opyrights
Established in the 45S5 1onstit tion
- 6rticle I, section 7, cla se 7

8rants creators of original wor%s the right to

.istrib te .isplay ,erform 9eprod ce wor% ,repare derivative wor%s based pon the wor% 6 thor may grant e:cl sive right to others
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1opyrights #contin ed$

Types of wor% that can be copyrighted
6rchitect re 6rt 6 diovis al wor%s 1horeography .rama 8raphics <iterat re =otion pict res
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1opyrights #contin ed$

Types of wor% that can be copyrighted
= sic ,antomimes ,ict res Sc lpt res So nd recordings Other intellect al wor%s
6s described in Title >; of 45S5 1ode

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1opyrights #contin ed$

Wor% m st fall within one of the preceding categories = st be original
- Eval ating originality can ca se problems

@air se doctrine
- @actors to consider when eval ating the se of copyrighted material

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1opyrights #contin ed$

@air se doctrine factors incl deB
, rpose and character of the se Cat re of the copyrighted wor% ,ortion of the copyrighted wor% sed Effect of the se pon the val e of the copyrighted wor%

1opyright infringement
- 1opy s bstantial and material part of another's copyrighted wor% - Witho t permission
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1opyrights #contin ed$

6rea of copyright infringement
- Worldwide sale of co nterfeit cons mer s pplies

1opyrights to protect comp ter software e:ist

- To prove infringement, copyright holders m st show a stri%ing resemblance between the original software and the new software that co ld be e:plained only by copying

World Intellect al ,roperty Organi*ation #WI,O$

- 6gency of the 4nited Cations - 6dvocates for the interests of intellect al property owners
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1opyrights #contin ed$

.igital =illenni m 1opyright 6ct #.=16$
- 6dded new provisions to WI,O - 1ivil and criminal penalties incl ded - 8overns distrib tion of tools and software that can be sed for copyright infringement - Opponents say it restricts the free flow of information

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,atents
8rant of property rights to inventors Iss ed by the 45S5 ,atent and Trademar% Office #4S,TO$ ,ermits an owner to e:cl de the p blic from ma%ing, sing, or selling the protected invention 6llows legal action against violators ,revents independent creation E:tends only to the 4nited States and its territories and possessions
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,atents #contin ed$

6pplicant m st file with the 4S,TO
- 4S,TO searches prior art - Ta%es an average of 2+ months

,rior art
- E:isting body of %nowledge - 6vailable to a person of ordinary s%ill in the art

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,atents #contin ed$

6n invention m st pass fo r tests
= st be in one of the five stat tory classes of items = st be sef l = st be novel = st not be obvio s to a person having ordinary s%ill in the same field

Items cannot be patented if they are

- 6bstract ideas - <aws of nat re - Cat ral phenomena
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,atents #contin ed$

,atent infringement
- Someone ma%es na thori*ed se of a patent - Co specified limit to the monetary penalty

Software patent
- @eat re, f nction, or process embodied in instr ctions e:ec ted on a comp ter

2A,AAA software&related patents per year have been iss ed since the early >?7As

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,atents #contin ed$

Defore obtaining a software patent, do a patent search Software ,atent Instit te is b ilding a database of information 1ross&licensing agreements
- <arge software companies agree not to s e others over patent infringements - Small b sinesses have no choice b t to license patents

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,atents #contin ed$

.efensive p blishing
6lternative to filing for patents 1ompany p blishes a description of the innovation Establishes the idea's legal e:istence as prior art 1osts mere h ndreds of dollars Co lawyers @ast

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,atents #contin ed$

Standard is a definition or format
- 6pproved by recogni*ed standards organi*ation - Or accepted as a de facto standard by the ind stry - Enables hardware and software from different man fact rers to wor% together

S bmarine patent
- 2idden within a standard - .oes not s rface ntil the standard is broadly adopted

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,atents #contin ed$

,atent farming involves
- Infl encing a standards organi*ation to ma%e se of a patented item - .emanding royalties from all parties that se the standard

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Trade Secret <aws

4niform Trade Secrets 6ct #4TS6$ established niformity in trade secret law Trade secret
D siness information 9epresents something of economic val e 9e) ires an effort or cost to develop Some degree of ni) eness or novelty 8enerally n%nown to the p blic Eept confidential

1omp ter hardware and software can ) alify for trade secret protection
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Trade Secret <aws #contin ed$

Information is only considered a trade secret if the company ta%es steps to protect it 8reatest threat to loss of company trade secrets is employees Condisclos re cla ses in employee's contract
- Enforcement can be diffic lt - 1onfidentiality iss es are reviewed at the e:it interview

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Trade Secret <aws #contin ed$

Concompete agreements
- ,rotect intellect al property from being sed by competitors when %ey employees leave - 9e) ire employees not to wor% for competitors for a period of time

Safeg ards
- <imit o tside access to corporate comp ters - 8 ard se of remote comp ters by employees

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Trade Secret <aws #contin ed$

Trade secret law has a few %ey advantages over patents and copyrights
Co time limitations Co need to file an application ,atents can be r led invalid by co rts Co filing or application fees

<aw doesn't prevent someone from sing the same idea if it is developed independently World Trade Organi*ation #WTO$
- T9I,s 6greement provides for a minim m level of protection for intellect al property
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S mmary of the WTO T9I,s 6greement

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<egal OverviewB The Dattle Over 1 stomer <ists

Employees ma%e na thori*ed se of an employer's c stomer list
- 1 stomer list not a tomatically considered a trade secret - Ed cate wor%ers abo t the confidentiality of s ch lists

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Eey Intellect al ,roperty Iss es

Iss es that apply to intellect al property and information technology
,lagiarism 9everse engineering Open so rce code 1ompetitive intelligence 1ybers) atting

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,lagiarism
Theft and passing off of someone's ideas or words as one's own =any st dents
- .o not nderstand what constit tes plagiarism - Delieve that all electronic content is in the p blic domain

,lagiarism detection systems

- 1hec% s bmitted material against databases of electronic content

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,lagiarism #contin ed$

Steps to combat st dent plagiarism
- 2elp st dents nderstand what constit tes plagiarism - Show st dents how to doc ment Web pages - Sched le major writing assignments in portions - Tell st dents that yo %now abo t Internet paper mills - Ed cate st dents abo t plagiarism detection services

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,artial <ist of ,lagiarism .etection Services and Software

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9everse Engineering
,rocess of ta%ing something apart in order to
- 4nderstand it - D ild a copy of it - Improve it

6pplied to comp ter

- 2ardware - Software

1onvert a program code to a higher level design 1onvert an application that ran on one vendor's database to r n on another's
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9everse Engineering #contin ed$

1ompiler
- <ang age translator - 1onverts comp ter program statements e:pressed in a so rce lang age to machine lang age

Software man fact rer

- ,rovides software in machine lang age form

.ecompiler
- 9eads machine lang age - ,rod ces so rce code
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9everse Engineering #contin ed$

1o rts have r led in favor of sing reverse engineering
- To enable interoperability

Software license agreements forbid reverse engineering Semicond ctor 1hip ,rotection 6ct #S1,6$
- Established a new type of intellect al property protection for mas% wor%s

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Open So rce 1ode

,rogram so rce code made available for se or modification
- 6s sers or other developers see fit

Dasic premise
- Software improves - 1an be adapted to meet new needs - D gs rapidly identified and fi:ed

2igh reliability 8C4 8eneral , blic <icense #8,<$ was a prec rsor to the Open So rce Initiative #OSI$
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1ompetitive Intelligence
8athering of legally obtainable information
- To help a company gain an advantage over rivals

Often integrated into a company's strategic plans and decision ma%ing Cot ind strial espionage Cearly 2+ colleges and niversities offer co rses or programs Witho t proper management safeg ards it can cross over to ind strial espionage
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6 =anager's 1hec%list for 9 nning an Ethical 1ompetitive Intelligence Operation

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1ybers) atting
Trademar% is anything that enables a cons mer to differentiate one company's prod cts from another's
- =ay be
<ogo ,ac%age design ,hrase So nd Word

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1ybers) atting #contin ed$

Trademar% law
- Trademar%'s owner has the right to prevent others from sing the same mar%
Or conf singly similar mar%

1ybers) atters
- 9egistered domain names for famo s trademar%s or company names - 2ope the trademar%'s owner wo ld b y the domain name
@or a large s m of money
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1ybers) atting #contin ed$

To c rb cybers) atting
- 9egister all possible domain names
5org 5com 5info

Internet 1orporation for 6ssigned Cames and C mbers #I16CC$

- 1 rrent trademar% holders are given time to assert their rights in the new top&level domains before registrations are opened to the general p blic
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S mmary
Intellect al property is protected by
- 1opyrights - ,atents - Trade secrets

,lagiarism is stealing and passing off the ideas and words of another as one's own 9everse engineering
- ,rocess of brea%ing something down - In order to nderstand, b ild copy, or improve it
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S mmary #contin ed$

Open so rce code
- =ade available for se or modification as sers or other developers see fit

1ompetitive intelligence
- Cot ind strial espionage - 4ses legal means and p blic information

1ybers) atting
- 9egistration of a domain name by an naffiliated party

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