Computers in Society

Week 4:Intellectual Property –

Software Patents and CopyrightsThe Open Source Movement

Definition of Intellectual PropertyIntellectual Property (IP) is any unique product of the human intellect that has commercial value. Example include books, songs, movies, paintings, inventions, chemical formulas, and computer programs [Quinn].

In many cases it is important to distinguish the intellectual property from its physical manifestation. It is a poem or song that is the intellectual property, not the printed version of the poem or the recording of the song.

Types of Intellectual Property

• Trade Secrets

• Trademarks and Service Marks

• Patents

• Copyright

The Intellectual Property Compromise

The solution is to balance these two principles by granting authors and inventors exclusive rights to their writings and discoveries for a limited period of time.

The key question is, what should the length of that period of time be?

In the US, Congress has set different lengths for different types of intellectual property.

Patents

A patent provides an inventor with the exclusive right to an invention for a limited term. In exchange, the information about the invention must be made public.

Patent laws differ from country to country. In the United States, patents protect useful processes, machines, manufacturing methods, or compositions of matter for 20 years.

Patents (2)

The owner of a patent can prevent others from using the invention. Usually the owner will use the patent himself or license the patent to others.

After the patent expires (that is, the time limit of the patent is passed), the invention enters the public domain and anyone can use it.

Patents (3)

In the US, Patents cannot be abstract. Scientific facts and mathematical theorems cannot be patented. For many years this exclusion included algorithms.

Patents must also cover novel inventions. The ideas cannot be obvious to other people in the field.

About 40% of software installed on personal computers world wide was illegally obtained. (Sixth Annual BSA-IDC Global Software 08 Piracy Study)

Software IP

Protection of Software IP

Software intellectual property is protected in a number of ways:

• Software patents• Copyright of both source and executable code• Trade secret protection (source code is usually treated as a trade secret)

Software Patent History

In the US, before 1981 patents could not be granted for computer applications.

In 1981, US courts allowed a patent for a rubber manufacturing process that included computer control.

The court required such systems to be more than just an algorithm. Algorithms had to work on real world data. For example, predicting heart arrhythmias or analyzing earthquake (seismic) data.

Software Patent History (2)

In 1998 the US courts ruled that business methods could be patented. They also said that software or other processes that yield a useful, concrete and tangible result should be considered patentable [Bitlaw website].

With the growth of the internet (world-wide web) and on-line commerce, this standard became easier to meet.

Positive Aspects of Software Patents

The main argument given for software patents is that they motivate innovation by rewarding innovators.

This is the same argument used to justify patents in general.

Negative Aspects of Software Patents

Many people disagree that software patents are a good thing. They claim that software is different from other technical fields, especially because of the fast growth in the field and the wide applicability of the patented ideas. The ideas are not only useful in the patented application, they are useful in many unrelated systems and processes. Thus they look like more abstract principles than inventions.

Negative Aspects (2)

One major criticism is that the people deciding what is patentable don’t know much about software, and can’t judge what is innovative. This leads to trivial or non-novel patents:

• Amazon’s “one-click” ordering

• Use of exclusive-or for cursor over text

Negative Aspects (3)

Another major criticism is that software patents are not used to reward inventors, but are often bought up by large corporations or rich individuals who don’t use the patent themselves. Instead they use it to bully other companies and extort money from them.

This is what is known as a “patent troll.”

Copying Software

Copying has a very broad interpretation for software. It includes both installing a copy on a hard drive, but also copying an executable into memory so it can be executed.

When you “buy” software what you are really buying is a license to copy the software in these ways. You don’t own the software.

Safe Software DevelopmentThe functionality of software is not protected if the functionality is not patented. In that case anyone can duplicate the functionality as long as they don’t use the actual software.

Some companies use a team of engineers to reverse engineer and even disassemble code to understand it. They then write a specification that a different team, which hasn’t looked at the code, uses to develop the same functionality.

Open Source Software

Open Source Software is a concept pioneered by Richard Stallman. Stallman’s philosophy was based on the idea that the copyright system was developed when copying was difficult. Computers make copying easy, so different rules are needed.

Stallman also thought that the goal of IP protection should be to promote progress, not to make authors wealthy.

Open Source Software (2)

Open source software attributes:

•No restrictions on distribution•Source is included or easily accessible•No restrictions on modification•No restrictions on use (though commercial derivatives may not be allowed)•Rights pass with copies (no need for additional licenses•Licenses can’t restrict other software in the distribution

Open Source Software (3)

Open source software benefits:

• It can be improved easily• It allows fast development of new features• It is the property of the entire industry• the focus is moved from manufacture of new software to service (support and maintenance)

Open Source Software (4)

Open source software has a number of drawbacks:

• Large scale systems require a critical mass of developers that is hard to get outside of a commercial environment.• Availability of software to many allows divergent development paths.• Lack of financial rewards hinders innovation.

GNU

Stallman’s project (started 1984) to create an open source Unix system was called GNU: GNU’s Not Unix.

Included software like TEX and XWindows

Linux

In 1991 Linus Torvalds wrote an open source, Unix-like kernel called Linux. He combined it with GNU software to create an operating system.

As Stallman wants everyone to know, what we call Linux is really GNU/Linux.

Linux (2)Linux has been a great success in that low-cost Linux computers are now widely available. Open Office provides programs with the functionality of Microsoft Office.

Bucknell switched from expensive Sun workstations to Dell/Intel (“Lintel”) Linux systems.

Widespread adoption has not been achieved in part because these systems are harder to administer.

Creative Commons

A commons is a “resource to which anyone within the relevant community has a right without obtaining permission.”

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig proposed that the internet is an innovation commons. He proposed a creative commons to provide licenses to use intellectual property without charge.

Creative Commons (2)

In Lessig’s Creative Commons, it is easy to set up a licensing arrangement. Answer two questions:• Allow commercial use of your work (yes/no)?• Allow modification of your work (yes/no)?

Software will generate license forms suitable for posting on the web that allow others to use your work without asking permission.