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Ethics in Information Technology, Sixth Edition
Ethics in Information Technology, Sixth Edition
Chapter 6
Intellectual Property
Self-Assessment Questions
1. b. An improvisational speech
2. copyright
3. True
4. d. Patent infringement
Discussion Questions
1. Do you believe that copyright, patent, and trade secret laws and their enforcement have
accelerated the pace of innovation or slowed it? Explain your answer.
Students’ answers will vary. Students who believe that these laws have accelerated the pace of
innovation may argue that the protection provided by these laws encourages more innovation
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2. Explain the concept that an idea cannot be copyrighted, but the expression of an idea can be,
and why this distinction is key to understanding copyright protection.
Students’ answers will vary. Students may offer a variety of hypothetical examples in which a
3. Briefly discuss Titles I and II of the DMCA, including the primary protections it provides for
copyright material as well as the associated penalties. Do you believe that the DMCA has
given excessive powers to copyright holders? Why or why not?
Students’ answers may vary. Title I implemented 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
Some students will argue that without the safe harbors that the DMCA provides, the risk of
copyright liability would be so great as to seriously discourage ISPs from hosting and transmitting
user-generated content. Those students may see the DMCA as a boon to the growth of the Internet.
4. Identify the necessary conditions to grant a patent according to Title 35 of the U.S. Code.
The main body of law that governs patents is contained in Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Section 101 of
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5. How did the Defend Trade Secrets Act modify U.S. trademark law? Do you think this act was
an improvement over the preexisting patent protections? Why or why not?
The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 amended the Economic Espionage Act to create a federal
civil remedy for trade secret misappropriation. Prior to its enactment, civil claims for trade secret
6. What is a cross-licensing agreement? How do large software companies use such agreements?
Do you think their use is fair to small software development firms? Why or why not?
A cross-licensing agreement is one in which each company agrees not to sue the other over patent
infringements. Large companies, such as Apple, HTC, Microsoft, and IBM, sign agreements with
7. Do you think that a high priority should be placed by the USPTO on doing whatever is
necessary to reduce the backlog of patent applications in order to shorten the length of time
required to obtain a patent application decision? Why or why not?
Students’ answers will vary. Information that students should consider when answering this
question include the fact that although the USPTO employs around 9,000 patent examiners to
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8. What is the role of the WTO, and what is the scope and intent of its TRIPS agreement?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global organization that deals with rules of international
trade based on WTO agreements that are negotiated and signed by representatives of the world’s
9. 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
10. 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
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11. What problems can arise in using nondisclosure and noncompete agreements to protect
intellectual property?
Students’ answers will vary. It can be difficult to get employees to agree to sign these types of
12. Outline an approach that a university might take to successfully combat plagiarism by its
students.
Students’ answers may vary. Some of the actions that schools can take to combat student plagiarism
include:
13. Under what conditions do you think that the use of reverse engineering is an acceptable
business practice?
Students’ answers will vary. Students may point out that the courts have ruled in favor of using
reverse engineering to enable interoperability, including in the Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade,
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14. Why might an organization opt to produce open source code rather than focus on the creation
of propriety software?
Reasons that firms or individual developers create open source code, even though they do not
receive money for it, include the following:
• Some people share code to earn respect for solving a common problem in an elegant way.
15. What are the pros and cons of adopting open source code for use within an organization?
Students’ answers may vary. Two frequently cited reasons for using open source software are that it
16. 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
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What Would You Do?
1. Students’ answers will vary. Some students might respond by telling the manager that those
agreements are between the company and the employee; the recruiter has no obligation to stop
2. Students’ answers will vary. It sounds like students are being asked to reverse engineer the
competitor’s software in order to steal trade secrets. Students might say they would refuse to take
3. Illegal and unethical methods of gathering business information could be considered to be
4. Students’ answers will vary. Students will likely suggest that the company require its employees to
sign nondisclosure agreements, which would prohibit employees from revealing secrets if they
5. Students’ answers will vary. The two options are both tempting but also unethical. The first option,
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6. Students’ answers will vary. When choosing an option, students may take into account the fact that
if a court finds that patent infringement is intentional, it can award up to three times the amount of
the damages claimed by the patent holder. However, the most common defense against patent
Cases
Case 1: Target Hires Key Executive Away from Amazon
1. Students’ answers will vary. Some students may believe that based on the first two factors
considered, Amazon’s suit to enforce the noncompete agreement is valid because Valdez held
2. Students’ answers will vary. Students will likely suggest options such as having Valdez commit to
not sharing Amazon trade secrets and/or having Valdez work for a period of time in areas of
3. Students’ answers will vary. Some students will argue that noncompete clauses in employment
contracts discourage innovation by limiting the ability of talented employees to move to another
Case 2: Intellectual Property Fight over Virtual Reality Headset
1. Students’ answers will vary. The judgment against Facebook is significant, which may have
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dampened enthusiasm for the Rift within Facebook. In addition, sales of the Rift have been
2. Various tools and algorithms can be used to detect software code that has been “paraphrased” by
another developer or company. JPlag, developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and the
3. Students’ answers will vary. In June 2017, Facebook asked the courts to lower the amount it would
be required to pay ZeniMax from $500 million to $50 million. As of June 2017, Facebook was also