Chapter 6 : Intellectual property

DISCUSSION Questions

1. Do you believe that copyright, patent, and trade secret laws and their enforcement have accelerated the pace on innovation or slowed it? Explain your answer.

2. Explain the concept that an idea cannot be copyrighted, but the expression of an idea can be, and why this distinction is a key to understanding copyright protection.

3. Briefly discuss Titles I and II of the DMCA, Including the primary protections it provides for copyrighted material as well as the associated penalties. Do you believe that the DMCA has given excessive powers to copyright holders? Why or why not?

4. Identify the necessary conditions to grant a patent according to Title 35 of the U.S. Code.

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?

6. What is a cross-licensing agreement? How do large hardware and software companies use such agreements? Do you think their use is fair to small technology firms? Why or why not?

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?

8. What is the role of the WTO, and what Is the scope and intent of Its TRIPS Agreement?

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?

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?

11. What problems can arise in using nondisclosure and noncompete agreements to protect intellectual property?

12. Outline an approach that a university might take to successfully combat plagiarism by Its students. 13. Under what conditions do you think that the use of reverse engineering is an acceptable business practice?

14. Why might an organization opt to produce open source code rather than focus on the crea-tion of proprietary software?

15. What are the pros and cons of adopting open source code for use within an organization?

16. What measures can companies take to combat cybersquatting?