FREE Software Piracy & Intellectual Property Rights Essay (original) (raw)

Computer technology has created a new revolution in how intellectual property is created, stored, reproduced and disseminated. Understanding intellectual property and how to protect it are some of the new challenges that we face. Of course computers have given rise to a whole new category of intellectual property, especially computer software. A major commercial program can take a team of one hundred or more highly skilled and highly paid programmers years to create and sell for hundreds of dollars per copy. The fundamental problem with intellectual property as an ethical category is that it is purely individualistic. Meaning that it focuses on the creator/developer of the intellectual work and what he/she is entitled to. There is honesty in this, but not 100% honesty. It ignores the social role of the creator and of the work itself, therefore overlooking their ethically significant relationships with the rest of society.
Intellectual property shares many of the characteristics associated with real and personal property. For example, intellectual property is an asset, and as such it can be bought, sold, licensed, exchanged, or gratuitously given away like any other form of property (Hefter & Litowitz). Also, the intellectual property owner has the right to prevent the unauthorized use or sale of the property. The most obvious difference between intellectual property and other forms of property is that intellectual property is intangible, meaning; it can't be defined or identified by its own physical parameters. It must be expressed in some discernible way to be protectable.
.
Types of Intellectual Property.
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. The term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, in special cases, from the date an earlier related application was filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.

Essays Related to Software Piracy & Intellectual Property Rights

1. Software Licensing And Piracy

The commission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms, and CONTU rejected trade secret and patents as viable protective mechanisms. ... With that in mind then a copyright is a property right only. ... Known as Public Law 102-561 made software piracy a federal offense, and instituted criminal penalties for copyright infringement of software. ... When software is counterfeit or copied, the software developer loses their revenue and the whole software industry feels the effect of piracy. ... The United States Governmen...

2. Software Piracy

The commission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms, and CONTU rejected trade secret and patents as viable protective mechanisms. ... With that in mind then a copyright is a property right only. ... Known as Public Law 102-561 made software piracy a federal offense, and instituted criminal penalties for copyright infringement of software. ... When software is counterfeit or copied, the software developer loses their revenue and the whole software industry feels the effect of piracy. ... The United States Government has ...

3. Economic Consequences of Software Crime

On the next page is a regional breakdown of software piracy losses for 1994. ... The commission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms. ... With that in mind a copyright is a property right only. ... When software is counterfeit or copied, the software developer loses their revenue and the whole software industry feels the effect of piracy. ... The United States Government has been an active participant in protecting the rights of the software industry. ...

4. Worldwide Illegal Copying Of Domestic And International Software

The commission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms, and CONTU rejected trade secret and patents as viable protective mechanisms. ... With that in mind then a copyright is a property right only. ... Known as Public Law 102-561 made software piracy a federal offense, and instituted criminal penalties for copyright infringement of software. ... When software is counterfeit or copied, the software developer loses their revenue and the whole software industry feels the effect of piracy. ... The United States Government has been an ...

5. The Ethics of Software Sharing

In an article for the Journal of Marketing titled "Software Piracy: Estimation of Lost Sales and the Impact on Software Diffusion," they mention, "..among these industries the software industry was identified as having lost the most sales to pirates, 9of9 of 9of17 billion" "(Page 29). ... In the Journal of Business Ethics, the article titled "The Morality of Software Piracy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis" mentions that, "theft of intellectual property" costs the U.S. more than US$40 billion annually in lost sales and royalties. ... This is because you are cheating by getting around paying for the prog...

6. Software Crimes: The Ethical And Economical Downfalls

Provincial law creates trade secret laws, and most jurisdictions have laws that criminalize the violators of a trade-secret holder's rights. ... The commission also felt copyright was the best alternative among existing intellectual property protective mechanisms. ... With that in mind, a copyright is a property right only. ... This amendment made software piracy a federal offense, and instituted criminal penalties for copyright infringement of software. ... The United States Government has been an active participant in protecting the rights of the software industry. ...

7. Internet Revolution and Data Piracy

Software piracy is still a problem. ... With the motive of protecting information from misuse, the concept of Digital Rights Management (DRM) has come into existence. DRM refers to the control and protection of digital intellectual property (content) including documents, images, videos, and audio. ... Copyright, patent and trade secret laws offer certain privileges or rights to people. But digital content has created rights that did not exist for analog products. ...

8. Current Copyright & Patent law

Current copyright and patent laws are not strong enough to protect programmers' rights, and they even slow down software development and reduce competition; software is not a physical thing and by nature completely defenseless, as it is more or less simply intellectual property, and thus, is very easily copied. There are two categories of intellectual property. ... Ever since then, the company has been selling out the rights as its primary business. ... While the copy does not stay indefinitely, it does stay long enough to perform a certain task, and can be looked upon as a form of so...

9. Music down

This question arises in any other piracy-related area. ... People who produce intellectual property and the ones that benefit from it are currently discussing the implications this can have on the online music in the future. ... There are two categories of intellectual property. ... Current copyright acquisition is complex and good protection of intellectual property is not ensured. ... Both content providers and creators ask an international copyright law to conform to the current needs and provide sufficient intellectual property rights protection in a flexi...

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question