Chapter 4 Intellectual Property What is Intellectual Property

Chapter 4 Intellectual Property

What is Intellectual Property • The intangible creative work • Value of intelligence and artistic work comes from creativity, ideas, research, skills, labor, non-material efforts and attributes that the creator provides • Protected by copyright and patent law

Copyrights

Changing Technology • Digital technology and the Internet has made copyright infringement easier and cheaper • New compression technologies have made copying large files (e. g. graphics, video and audio files) feasible • New tools allow us to modify graphics, video and audio files to make derivative works • Scanners allow us to change the media of a copyrighted work, converting printed text, photos, and artwork to electronic form

Significant Cases • 1790 - first copyright law passed • Copyright Act of 1909 - defined an unauthorized copy as a form that could be seen and read visually • 1976 and 1980 - copyright law revised to include software and databases (“Fair Use” was defined) • 1982 - high-volume copying became a felony • 1992 - making multiple copies for commercial advantage and private gain became a felony

Significant Cases • 1997 - No Electronic Theft Act - made it a felony to willfully infringe copyright by reproducing or distributing one or more copies of copyrighted work with a total value of more than $1, 000 within a six-month period • 1998 - Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibits making, distributing or using tools to circumvent technological copyright protection systems; and included protection from some copyright lawsuits for Web sites where users post material • 2005 - Congress made it a felony to record a movie in a movie theater

Fair Use Doctrine • Under some circumstances, it is legal to reproduce a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder. • Allows for use of copyrighted material that contributes to the creation of new work • & uses that are not likely to deprive authors or publishers of income for their work

Fair Use Doctrine • 4 Factors: 1. What is the purpose and character of the use? 2. What is the nature of the work being copied? 3. How much of the copyrighted work is being used? 4. How will this use affect the market for the copyrighted work? (this one generally is given more weight)

Significant Cases • • • 1984 - Sony v. Universal Studios 1991 - Kinko’s 1992 - Sega v. Accolade 1992 - Atari v. Nintendo 1992 - copies of CD made ok

Significant Cases • • • 1994 - Davy Jones Locker 1994 - David La. Macchia 2000 - Sony v. Connectix Corp. 2001 - Napster 2005 - MGM v. Grokster

Napster • Was the sharing of music via Napster fair use? • Napster's arguments for fair use w The Sony decision allowed for entertainment use to be considered fair use w Did not hurt industry sales because users sampled the music on Napster and bought the CD if they liked it w The songs weren’t copied for commercial use • RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of America) arguments against fair use w "Personal" meant very limited use, not trading with thousands of strangers w It wasn’t being used for educational, research, or news use w Songs and music are creative works and users were copying whole songs w Claimed Napster severely hurt sales

Napster • Should Napster be responsible for copyright infringement? w Napster had legitimate uses in promoting new bands & artists who were willing to let users copy their songs w Napster did not keep copies of songs on its computers w It provided a means for users to infringe copyrights (like Betamax) w Courts said Napster was liable because it had the right & the ability to supervise its systems - in 2001, they ruled that Napster “knowingly encourages & assists in the infringement of copyrights”

Protecting Software • • Expiration date encoded into the program Hardware dongle Copy protection on disks Activation or registration • BSA

Threats to Innovation • • CD writers DVRs DVD players i. Pod • Should we ban or restrict software, technology, a device, or research because it has the potential for illegal use, or should we ban only the illegal uses?

Criticisms of DRM • Prevents or threatens fair uses • Prevents or threatens use of material in the public domain • Different types on different platforms • Does it even work?

DMCA vs Fair Use, Freedom of Speech, & Innovation • After DMCA, courts are less likely to protect technologies that have significant, legitimate, nonfringing uses • De. CSS ruled illegal - protests appeared online

Video Sharing • What are the responsibilities of sites on which people post videos? • Safe-harbor provisions have resulted in putting the burden on copyright holders to find the infringing items and send takedown notices.

Ethical Arguments About Copying • Can’t afford to buy it • The company is large, wealthy • Wouldn’t buy it at retail price anyway so the company is not losing money • Making a copy for a friend is an act of generosity • This is a small violation compared to those who engage in large piracy outfits • Everyone does it – you’d be foolish not to • I don’t know how to get permission to use a song or video clip • I’m posting this video as a public service

International Piracy 20 countries with lowest rates in 2006: 21% 22% 25% 26% 26% 27% 27% U. S. New Zealand Japan Denmark Austria Switzerland Sweden Finland U. K. Belgium 28% 29% 29% 32% 34% 35% 36% 39% Germany Netherlands Australia Norway Israel Canada UAE South Africa Ireland Singapore

International Piracy 20 countries with highest rates in 2006: 95% 94% 91% 88% 86% 85% 84% Armenia Moldova Azerbaijan Zimbabwe Vietnam Venezuela Pakistan Indonesia Ukraine Cameroon 82% 82% 81% 84% Algeria 82% Montenegro El Salvador Zambia 82% Bolivia Ivory Coast 82% China 82% Nigeria 82% Paraguay Guatemala

Search Engines • Individuals and companies have sued Google for almost every search service it provides.

Free Software • Open source • Copy-left • A few examples: Linux, Apache, My. SQL, Fire. Fox