03 Intellectual property, patents, and open technologies

Intellectual property can be protected through several tools that give the owner the exclusive right to market an invention for a fixed time period.

Two broad families: (depends on objective of the protection)

• Copyright

• Industrial Property (IP)

  • Patents, industrial desgin, trademarks

• It refers to:

  • the act of making copies of literary or artistic work

• Under copyright, two types of rights are protected:

  • economic and moral right

• Is limited in time

The owner of a copyright can authorize:

• its reproduction in various forms

• its public performance

• its recording (“fixation”)

• its broadcasting (by radio, cable or satellite)

• its translation into other languages

• its adaptation, such as a novel into a film screenplay

• Patents (and licenses)

• industrial designs

• trademarks

Industrial design is the right to protect the original, ornamental and non functional features of a product that result from design activity.

• Only valid with new or original desgins

• owner:

  • make, import, sell, hire or offer for sale aritcels to which the design is applied or in which the design is embodied”

Maximum length from 10 to 25 years.

Patent is the right granted to an inventor by a State, or by a regional office,…which allows the inventor to exclude anyone else from commercially exploiting his invention for a limited period.

(WIPO, Understanding Industrial Property)

• The length of a patent varies by country (generally 20 years)

• Imitation is forbidden throughout the length of the patent

• Inventor MUST disclose the patented innovation

• Innovation can be patented ONLY IF certain conditions are satisfied (namely: industrial applicability, novelty, non-obviousness and patentable subject matter)

• Patentee: person to whom the patent is granted

• Anyone who wishes to exploit the innovation commercially must obtain permission from the patentee (= get a license from the patentee)

• Patents are transferable

• The length of a patent varies by country (generally 20 years)

Trademark distinguishes the goods or services of one enterprise from those of another.

• Has two additional functions (namely, guarantee and appeal functions)

• Can also be a three dimensional, olfactory or audible sign

• Often used for marketing purposes

• Period of protection varies, can be renewed indefinitely on payment

• Period of protection varies, can be renewed indefinitely on payment

Utility model is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which allows the right holder to prevent others from commercially using the protected invention, without his authorization, for a limited period of time.

(WIPO)

• The requirements of "non-obviousness" may be much lower or absent altogether (utility model therefore is good to protect incremental innovations)

• Shorter length (usually between 7-10 years without the possibility of extension or renewal)

• Registration process is simpler and faster; models are much cheaper to obtain and to maintain

• In some countries, utility model protection can only be obtained for certain fields of technology and only for products (primarily mechanical innovations) but not for processes

• Overall, utility models are considered particularly suited for SMEs that make "minor" improvements to, and adaptations of, existing products

An umbrella concept that encompasses

• Open standards

• Open security

• Open source (software)

Open ≠ Free software movements: “open” refers to the development methodology, “free” refers to the social implications of it

• “Open” - e.g. OpenBSD, OpenGL, OpenLDAP, OpenOffice.org, OpenPGP, OpenSSH, OpenVPN, Mozilla,…

• “Free” - e.g. GNU (General Public License, software “intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software“), …

• “Free and Open” (“FOSS”) - e.g. Linux, Ubuntu, …

• A standard is a specification for a technology or methodology

• Open standard:

  • publicly available (anyone who wants can obtain it and use it to create an implementation of the specified methodology or technology); e.g. TCP

• Standardization:

  • process of building functionality based upon standards, using standards as building blocks

• Standards compliant:

  • substitutability is relevant – standards-based systems function as freely exchangeable components (e.g. SMTP server)

• Closed (proprietary) technology:

  • not open;

  • creates lock-in situation, e.g. if a software cannot freely be replaced by another software system – may be(come) problematic due to arbitrary pricing and (dis-)continuity risk

• Inspection

  • intended and unintended use of facilities and information;

  • security is about protecting facilities and information from unintended use

• Risk associated to a system can only be assessed if the system is accessible

• “Security by obscurity”:

  • refers unfavorably to closed architectures (but: restricting access to content offers no particular protection against a flawed design!

• Open source:

  • source code available to the general public without restrictions that limit studying, changing or improving

• Open Source Initiative (OSI):

  • non-profit organization ‘dedicated to managing and promoting the Open Source Definition for the good of the community’

    • OSI registers and classifies (certifies) software licenses;

    • OSI provides definition standards (“The Open Source Definition”)

• OSS ≠ shareware (freely distributed, but source remains proprietary)

• OSS ≠ public domain software (not licensed, usable by everyone without constraint

Freeware is copyrighted software that the owner has made available to the public for use without cost. This is different from ‘free software’, which is software to which users are permitted to make changes.

Shareware is a type of copyrighted software provided free of charge to user, usually on the condition that if they want to continue to use it after a certain time they have to pay for it.

Open source software is made available to the public by copyright holder, who gives a license to modify it and distribute the modified version to any other persons. They can use it as a platform to promote their own (copyrighted) products which serve as add-ons or enhancements to the free software. They can sometimes more easily recruit talented programmers who may have experience of the shareware