Chapter 10: Intellectual Property Laws

The Three Main IP Laws

 Copyright law

◦Protects authored works such as art, books, film, and music;

 Patent law

◦Protects inventions

 Trade secret law

◦Helps safeguard information critical to an organization’s success

Literary/artistic ideas must be expressed in a tangible medium; functional ideas (inventions) must be expressed as a machine or process.

Copyrights

Purpose & Scope

Protect creative works (art, music, writing, software). •
Covers "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium." Does NOT cover ideas, common knowledge, or intangible creations.

Automatic Protection

No action required — protection begins once the work is fixed. • Duration: lifetime of the author + 50 years.

Saudi Copyright Law

Royal Decree No. M/41 dated August 30, 2003. • Protects works for 50 years after death.

The Four Rights of the Author

Right	Meaning
Reproduction	Copy the work
Derivative	Make a new version based on it
Performance/Display	Show or perform publicly
Distribution	Sell, rent, lend, or distribute copies

Copyright Infringement

Three conditions must all be met:

1. Owner holds a valid copyright.

2. Infringer has access to the work.

3. Duplication occurs beyond exceptions.

Software piracy = unauthorized use of copyrighted software

Fair Use Doctrine

Allows limited use without permission for criticism, comment, news, teaching, scholarship, or research.

Four factors:

1. Purpose and character (commercial vs. educational).

2. Nature of the copyrighted work.

3. Portion used in relation to the whole.

4. Effect on the potential market. Fair use does NOT apply to unpublished works.

Software-Specific Rules

• Source code is copyrighted.

• Short snippets cannot be copyrighted.

• Programs in different languages with the same logic are considered the same.

• The "look and feel" of a game can be copyrighted.

Doctrine of First Sale

Owner of a copy can resell without the copyright owner's permission.

Does NOT apply to ebooks (protected by DRM).

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Encrypts content for purchaser-only viewing.

Requires device-specific numerical key.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

Anti-circumvention clause: prohibits bypassing technological measures protecting copyrighted works.

Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement

Concept	Meaning
Plagiarism	Taking someone’s words/ideas and pretending they are yours
Copyright infringement	Using protected work without permission

Independent Development Defense

A competitor can create a similar program if they prove independent development without knowledge of the original.

Patents

A patent protects inventions.

It gives the inventor the right to stop others from making, using, or selling the invention.

Patent must be:

1. Legal category

2. Useful

3. Novel/new

4. Not obvious

Unlike copyright, patent can stop even independent creation. Meaning: even if someone invented the same thing alone, they may still violate the patent

Cannot Be Patented

• Abstract ideas

• Laws of nature

• Natural phenomena

Types of Patent Infringement

Direct

Making, using, selling, importing without a license

Indirect

Includes contributory and induced

Induced

Aiding infringement via components or instructions

Contributory

Providing a part with no other reasonable use

Literal

Direct correspondence between device/processes

Willful

Purposeful use of patented ideas

Trademark

A trademark protects signs that identify a business.

Examples:

• Logo

• Brand name

• Symbol

• Sound

• Package design

• Phrase

Easy:

Trademark helps customers know which company a product comes from.

Example: Nike logo, Apple logo, McDonald’s golden arches.

Trade Secret

A trade secret is confidential business information that gives a company an advantage.

Examples:

• Secret formula

• Business method

• Customer list

• Algorithm

• Recipe

For information to be a trade secret, it must:

• Have economic value

• Be generally unknown

• Be kept confidential

• Be protected by the company

Trade secret protection has no fixed time limit as long as it stays secret.

Cybersquatting

Cybersquatting means registering or using a domain name in bad faith to profit from someone else’s trademark.

Example:
Someone buys michaeljordan.com pretending to be Michael Jordan or trying to sell the domain for profit.

Common forms:

• Same name with different extension

• Misspelled domain

• Paid ads using trademark confusion

• Selling domain back to owner

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering means taking something apart to understand it, copy it, or improve it.

In computing, it can mean:

• Studying hardware

• Studying software

• Converting code to higher-level design

• Moving an application from one database/vendor to another