Chapter 6 Links

Intellectual Property and Changing Technology

Provision in the US Constitution

What is intellectual property?
A Fable
A US View
A World View
Glossary

The MP3 Patents

Microsoft Sued for Violating MP3 Patents (Latest)
Another MP3 Lawsuit
MP3 Standard is Encumbered by Patents
More MP3 Patent Issues
List of MP3 Patents (most of them)

Copyright Law

History of Copyright:
World Perspective
US Perspective
The Illustrated Story of Copyright (online book)
Free Culture (online book)

Fair Use:
General Criteria
Example Interpretation

Betamax Case

P2P Cases:
The Current Problem
Important Cases
Lawsuits against individuals
Recent lawsuits against individuals (More Information) (Example Letter)

LimeWire:
Effect from Grokster Case
Maybe block unlicensed MP3s
Make users aware
Block files when copyright owners ask
LimeWire sued for copyright infringement
LimeWire countersues (Same story, but see related content)
Some analysis
Conflict over how to recognize content
Current Situation

Kazaa News
YouTube News
Other Copyright News

Solutions

DRM (Digital Rights Management):
DRM Lecture
Microsoft's EULA and Some Comments
More Comments on EULAs
Variety of DRM News

Trusted Computing:
Trusted Computing
Against

DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)
Against

Free and Open Source Software

What is free software? (compare to freeware and shareware)
What is open source software? (compare to public domain software)
Richard Stallman on free software

Example: Firefox (Market Share) (Timeline)
Other Examples
More Examples

Open Formats
Becoming a Government Requirement
Compare Microsoft's OOXML (Office Open XML) to the alternative ODF (Open Document Format)

Regular Issues in Software Development

It is easy to trespass on intellectual property.
The One-Click Patent
Derivative Works
Circumventing Restrictions in Software or Hardware

Example 1:

Problem: CS 1023 students sometimes submit .docx file.  I would like to read them without going through a resubmission process.

Possible Solutions: Buy Office 2007. Use a web site that translates .docx files to HTML.  Use a programming hint from this web site.

My solution: Create a Perl program with the programming hint to partially translate .docx files to plaintext.

Issue: Am I violating any patent or copyright or the DMCA?

Example 2:

Problem: I want to add a feature to a program so the program can find out what folder/directory it is in.

Possible Solution: This web site has a program that prints the folder to the screen.

My solution: Modify the program to return the folder name to another program rather than print it out on the screen.

Issue: Am I violating any patent or copyright or the DMCA?