Intellectual property worksheet - SDD HSC 17-18 PDF

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Summary of intellectual property unit with practice materials based on 'IT Book1 – Design Issues and Approaches by S. Schwarz and P. '...

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Intellectual property “Intellectual property represents the property of your mind or intellect. It can be an invention, trade mark, original design or the practical application of a good idea. In business terms, this means your proprietary knowledge - a key component of success in business today. It is often the edge which sets successful companies apart and as world markets become increasingly competitive, protecting your intellectual property becomes essential.” What is Intellectual property? IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 2004 http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/index.shtml Why Protect Intellectual Property? One reason might be to give yourself a pat on the back. Too late, it’s already been done. You can patent to aggressively sue others infringing on your concept or patent defensively so others won’t sue you for using a concept. You can protect your intellectual property in order to gain a legally protected market presence; one that you can use for some amount of time before making your property public. During that time, you might get a financial return from your ideas through licensing rights to someone else who, in turn, markets it. In Australia, there are a number of different ways to protect your intellectual property. Each method applies to the use of that idea. So it is possible have cover your intellectual property using multiple methods.

The Coca Cola company has a trade secret on the recipe of Coca Cola, they have trade marked their logo and name, they have designs on the shape of their bottle, the “wave”, and their colour red.

Copyright and software licences. These exercises are taken from IT Book1 – Design Issues and Approaches by S. Schwarz and P. Traverne. Copyright laws protect the rights of the creator of all original works, including software. Computer software is now marketed with a range of different licensing arrangements. In general, with software you only purchase a licence to use the software. You do not actually buy the software because it remains the intellectual property of the author. The main categories of software licences include: Single-use software (commercial) Site-licence software (commercial) Shareware software Freeware software Public-domain software Look up “Open Source” software on the Internet, and ▪ List the rules/terms that Open Source software must adhere to. (www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php) ▪ Create a table of advantages and disadvantages of this type of software licensing ▪ List the URLs of all the sites that you used as information sources The Rules of Open Source are: Advantages of Open Source software include:

Debate “It’s OK to copy software, no one will know!”

Disadvantages of Open Source software include:...