Computing Ethics and Society

Intellectual Property
Part 1

Principles, Laws, and

Cases

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

What is Intellectual Property?

▪ The intangible creative work, not its particular
physical form
▪ Value of intelligence and artistic work comes
from creativity, ideas, research, skills, labor,
non-material efforts and attributes the creator
provides
▪ Protected by copyright and patent law

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

U.S copyright Law (Title 17 of U.S. Code)

gives copyright holder following
exclusive rights:
▪ To make copies
▪ To produce derivative works, such as translations
into other languages or movies based on books
▪ To distribute copies
▪ To perform the work in public (e.g. music, plays)
▪ To display the work in public (e.g. artwork, movies,
computer games, video on a Web site)
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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Challenges of New Technology

▪ Digital technology and the Internet make
copyright infringement easier and cheaper.
▪ New compression technologies make copying
large files (e.g. graphics, video and audio files)
feasible.
▪ Search engines make finding material easier.
▪ Peer-to-peer technology makes transferring and
sharing files easier.
 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Challenges of New Technology (cont.)
▪ Broadband connections make transferring files
easier and enable streaming video.
▪ Miniaturization of cameras and other equipment
enable audience members to record and transmit
events.
▪ Scanners allow us to change the media of a
copyrighted work, converting printed text,
photos, and artwork to electronic form.
▪ New tools allow us to modify graphics, video and
audio files to make derivative works.
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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

▪ What does it mean to solve the problems of

technology’s impact on intellectual property
rights?

▪ We should recognize that “the problem” looks

different from different perspectives.

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
A bit of history
▪ 1790 first copyright law passed
▪ 1909 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 that exhibit "authorship"
(original expression of ideas), included the "Fair Use
Doctrine"
▪ 1982 high-volume copying became a felony
▪ 1992 making multiple copies for commercial
advantage and private gain became a felony

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
A bit of History (cont.)
▪ 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

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Fair Use Doctrine
▪ Four factors considered
• Purpose and nature of use – commercial (less
likely) or nonprofit purposes
• Nature of the copyrighted work
• Amount and significance of portion used
• Effect of use on potential market or value of
the copyright work (will it reduce sales of
work?)
▪ No single factor alone determines
▪ Not all factors given equal weight, varies by
circumstance

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Ethical arguments about copying

▪ Copying or distributing a song or computer
program does not decrease the use and
enjoyment any other person gets from his or
her copy.
▪ Copying can decrease the amount of money
that the copyright owner earns.

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Ethical arguments about copying (cont.)

▪ Copying enables users to try out products,
benefiting the copyright owner by encouraging
sales.
▪ Businesses and organizations should make their
own decisions about marketing products, not
consumers who want free samples.
▪ Fair use guidelines are useful ethical guidelines.
▪ There are many arguments for and against
unauthorized copying.

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Discussion Questions
▪ How is intellectual property like physical
property?
▪ How is intellectual property different than
physical property?
▪ Do you agree with the idea that someone can
"own" intellectual property?

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Sony v. Universal City Studios (1984)
▪ Supreme Court decided that the makers of a
device with legitimate uses should not be
penalized because some people may use it to
infringe on copyright
▪ Supreme Court decided copying movies for later
viewing was fair use
▪ Arguments against fair use
• People copied the entire work
• Movies are creative, not factual

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Sony v. Universal City Studios (1984) (cont.)
▪ Arguments for fair use
• The copy was for private, noncommercial use
and generally was not kept after viewing
• The movie studios could not demonstrate that
they suffered any harm
• The studios had received a substantial fee for
broadcasting movies on TV, and the fee depends on
having a large audience who view for free

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Reverse engineering: game machines
▪ Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade Inc. (1992)
▪ Atari Games v. Nintendo (1992)
▪ Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix
Corporation (2000)
▪ Courts ruled that reverse engineering does not
violate copyright if the intention is to make new
creative works (video games), not copy the original
work (the game systems)

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Significant Cases
➢ Sharing music: the Napster case
▪ Napster's arguments for fair use
• The Sony decision allowed for
entertainment use to be considered fair
use
• Did not hurt industry sales because
users sampled the music on Napster
and bought the CD if they liked it

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Sharing music: the Napster case (cont.)
▪ RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of
America) arguments against fair use
• "Personal" meant very limited use, not
trading with thousands of strangers
• Songs and music are creative works and
users were copying whole songs
• Claimed Napster severely hurt sales
▪ Court ruled sharing music via copied MP3
files violated copyright

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Sharing music: the Napster case (cont.)
▪ Was Napster responsible for the actions of its
users?
▪ Napster's arguments
• It was the same as a search engine, which
is protected under the DMCA
• They did not store any of the MP3 files
• Their technology had substantial legitimate
uses

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases
Significant Cases
➢ Sharing music: the Napster case (cont.)
▪ RIAA's arguments
• Companies are required to make an effort to prevent
copyright violations and Napster did not take
sufficient steps
• Napster was not a device or new technology and the
RIAA was not seeking to ban the technology
▪ Court ruled Napster liable because they had the right
and ability to supervise the system, including copyright
infringing activities

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Significant Cases
➢ File sharing: MGM v. Grokster
▪ Grokster, Gnutella, Morpheus, Kazaa, and others
provided peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services
• The companies did not provide a central service
or lists of songs
• P2P file transfer programs have legitimate uses
▪ Lower Courts ruled that P2P does have legitimate
uses
▪ Supreme Court ruled that intellectual property owners
could sue the companies for encouraging copyright
infringement

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Discussion Question
▪ What do you think the impact would be on
creative industries, such as music, movies and
fiction novels, if copyright laws did not protect
intellectual property?

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 Principles, Laws, and Cases

Significant Cases
➢ “Look and feel”
▪ Refers to features such as pull-down menus,
windows, icons, and finger movements and
specific ways they are used to select or initiate
actions.
▪ Reflects major creative effort by programmers.

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Part 2

Reponses to Copyright Infringement

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Responses from the Content Industries

➢ Ideas from the software industries
▪ Expiration dates within the software
▪ Dongles (a device that must be plugged into
a computer port)
▪ Copy protection that prevents copying
▪ Activation or registration codes
▪ Court orders to shut down Internet bulletin boards
and Web sites

Book Page NO: 196-198

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

International Piracy
▪ Some countries do not recognize or protect intellectual
property
▪ Countries that have high piracy rates often do not have a
significant software industry
▪ Many countries that have a high amount of piracy are
exporting the pirated copies to countries with strict
copyright laws
▪ Economic sanctions often penalize legitimate businesses,
not those they seek to target

Book Page NO: 197

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Responses from the Content Industries (cont.)

➢ Banning, suing and taxing
▪ Ban or delay technology via lawsuits
• CD-recording devices
• DVD players
• Portable MP3 players
▪ Require that new technology include copyright
protections
▪ Tax digital media to compensate the industry for
expected losses
Book Page NO: 198-200
 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Digital Rights Management

▪ Collection of techniques that control uses of
intellectual property in digital formats
▪ Includes hardware and software schemes using
encryption
▪ The producer of a file has flexibility to specify what a
user may do with it
▪ Apple, Microsoft and Sony all use different schemes of
DRM

Book Page NO: 200-201

 Responses to Copyright Infringement
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1998
➢ Anticircumvention
▪ Prohibit circumventing technological access controls
and copy-prevention systems
➢ Safe harbor
▪ Protect Web sites from lawsuits for copyright
infringement by users of site

Book Page NO: 201

 Responses to Copyright Infringement
The DMCA vs. Fair Use, Freedom of Speech, and
Innovation
▪ Lawsuits have been filed to ban new technologies
▪ U.S. courts have banned technologies such as DeCSS
even though it has legitimate uses, while courts in other
countries have not.
▪ Protesters published the code as part of creative works
(in haiku, songs, short movies, a computer game and
art)
▪ U.S. courts eventually allowed publishing of DeCSS, but
prohibited manufacturers of DVD players from including
it in their products

Book Page NO: 202-203

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Safe Harbor
▪ Industry issues "take down" notices per the DMCA
▪ As long as sites like YouTube and MySpace comply
with take down notices they are not in violation
▪ Take down notices may violate fair use, some
have been issued against small portions of video
being used for educational purposes

Book Page NO: 204-206

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Evolving Business Models

▪ Organizations set up to collect and distribute royalty
fees (e.g. the Copyright Clearance Center), users
don't have to search out individual copyright holders
▪ Sites such as iTunes and the new Napster provide
legal means for obtaining inexpensive music and
generate revenue for the industry and artists
▪ Revenue sharing allows content-sharing sites to
enable the posting of content and share their ad
revenues with content owners in compensation

Book Page NO: 206-207

 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Evolving Business Models

➢ Cloud storage raises copyright issues.
▪ Is copying legally purchased files to and from the cloud
a fair use?
▪ Will the companies operating the cloud services have
any responsibility for unauthorized content their
customers store and share?
▪ Since copyright holders do not see what is stored, they
do not have the option of sending takedown notices.
Book Page NO: 207
 Responses to Copyright Infringement

Evolving Business Models

➢ What does not work
▪ Zediva, a small startup in 2011, bought DVDs and
rented the content (not the physical DVD) to
customers legally. Court ordered Zediva to shut down.
▪ Pirate Bay
▪ Megaupload

Book Page NO: 207