978-1285197159 Chapter 6 Section 102 defines novelty as a necessary condition

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Ethics in Information Technology, Fifth Edition 9781285197159

Chapter 6

Intellectual Property

Self-Assessment Questions

Discussion Questions

1. Explain the concept that an idea cannot be copyrighted, but the expression of an idea can be,

and why this distinction is a key to understanding copyright protection.

Students’ answers may vary. Some of them may say that the concept that an idea cannot be copy-

righted but the expression of an idea can be is key to understanding copyright protection. For ex–

2. Briefly discuss Title I and II of the DMCA, including the primary protections it provides for

given excessive powers to copyright holders? Why or why not?

Students’ answers may vary. Title I implements the WIPO treaties by making certain technical

amendments to U.S. law in order to provide appropriate references and links to the treaties. It also

creates two new prohibitions in the Copyright Act (Title 17 of the U.S. Code)—one on circumven–

3. Identify the necessary conditions to grant a patent according to Title 35 of the U.S. Code.

Students’ answers may vary. The main body of law that governs patents is contained in Title 35 of

the U.S. Code. Section 101 of the code states that “whoever invents or discovers any new or useful

4. How did the America Invents Act modify U.S. patent law? Do you think this act was an

improvement over the preexisting way of patenting? Why or why not?

Students’ answers may vary. Under the America Invents Act, which was passed in 2011, the U.S.

patent system changed from a “first-to-invent” to a “first-inventor-to-file” system effective March

5. What is a cross-licensing agreement? How do large software companies use such agree–

ments? Do you think their use is fair to small software development firms? Why or why not?

Students’ answers may vary. This is an agreement in which each company agrees not to sue the

other over patent infringements. Large companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, Sun Microsystems,

6. What is the role of the WTO, and what is the scope and intent of its TRIPS agreement?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with rules of international trade based on WTO agree–

ments that are negotiated and signed by representatives of the world’s trading nations.

7. Briefly discuss how the courts and USPTO have changed their opinions and attitudes toward

the patenting of software over the years. Do you believe that software patents inhibit new

software development? Why or why not?

Students’ answers may vary. The introduction of Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (2011) and

several cases of software patents have triggered change in the patenting of software over the years.

8. Identify and briefly discuss three key advantages that trade secret law has over the use of

patents and copyrights in protecting intellectual property. Are there any drawbacks with the

use of trade secrets to protect intellectual property?

Students’ answers may vary. Trade secret law has several key advantages over the use of patents

and copyrights in protecting companies from losing control of their intellectual property, as sum–

marized in the following list:

9. What problems can arise in using nondisclosure and noncompete agreements to protect intel–

lectual property?

10. Outline a multistep approach that a university might take to successfully combat plagiarism

among its students.

Students’ answers may vary. Some of the actions that schools can take to combat student plagia-

rism include:

Help students understand what constitutes plagiarism and why they need to cite sources

properly.

11. Under what conditions is the use of reverse engineering an acceptable business practice?

Students’ answers may vary. The courts have ruled in favor of using reverse engineering to enable

interoperability. In the early 1990s, video game maker Sega developed a computerized lock so that

12. How might a corporation use reverse engineering to convert to a new database management

system? How might it use reverse engineering to uncover the trade secrets behind a competi–

tor’s software?

Students’ answers may vary. Reverse engineering is the process of taking something apart in order

to understand it, build a copy of it, or improve it. Using reverse engineering, the corporation can

use the code of the current database programming language to recover the design of the informa–

13. Why might an organization elect to use open source code instead of propriety software?

14. What is the nominative use defense? What are the three key elements of this defense?

Nominative fair use is a defense often employed by the defendant in trademark infringement cases

where a defendant uses a plaintiff’s mark to identify the plaintiff’s products or services in conjunc–

tion with its own product or services. To successfully employ this defense, the defendant must

show three things:

15. What measures can companies take to combat cybersquatting?

Students’ answers may vary. The main tactic organizations use to circumvent cybersquatting is to

protect a trademark by registering numerous domain names and variations as soon as the organiza-

What Would You Do?

1. Students’ answers may vary. For example, some may have employees who monitor the public an–

nouncements of property transfers to detect any plant or store expansions of competitors. Note that

2. Students’ answers will vary. Note that because organizations can risk losing trade secrets when key

4. Students’ answers will vary. The two options provided by the roommate are tempting but unethical

5. Students’ answers will vary. The website would have a considerable amount of information that

6. Students’ answers will vary. They could schedule a private meeting with their manager to discuss

the fact that they are feeling pressured by coworkers to reveal information about the marketing and

7. Students’ answers will vary. Students may argue that the protection of the company’s intellectual

8. Students’ answers will vary. Students may choose one of those options depending on the following

Cases

Case 1: Alice Case Raises Concerns for the Future of IT Software Patents

1. Section 103 describes “nonobviousness” as a mandatory requirement for a patent. To be patentable,

Case 2: Rockstar Consortium—Beware the Patent Troll

1. Students’ answers will vary. Some students may point out that Rockstar can aggressively pursue

filing patent lawsuits as it produces no products that could form the basis for a patent infringement

Case 3: Google Book Search Library Project

1. Students’ answers will vary. Students might argue that it would have taken much longer to use an–