Intellectual Property

Copyright laws, as they apply to printed media or to audiovisual media, are typically well understood. Most people understand that it is illegal to make photocopies of a book. Similarly, most people would hesitate to make a copy of a rented videotape. Similar laws apply to software but are apparently not well understood, or ignored by a majority of people. Software piracy is a multi-billion dollar industry. Some cases of software piracy can be attributed to ignorance of the law. To a large extent, software piracy is rampant because of the ease with which software can be copied. The emergence of the Internet as a distribution medium compounds this problem. This chapter looks at the issues of software copyrights, software patents and subtle "look and feel" aspects of the law.