What Intellectual Property Law Should Learn from Software.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	What Intellectual Property Law Should Learn from Software.
Authors:	BOYLE, JAMES¹ boyle@law.duke.edu
Source:	Communications of the ACM. Sep2009, Vol. 52 Issue 9, p71-76. 6p. 2 Color Photographs.
Subjects:	Computer software laws, Intellectual property, Patents, Computer software development, Copyright, Computer industry, Prevention
Geographic Terms:	United States
Abstract:	The article refers to intellectual property law in the United States and focuses on the computer industry where software is protected by patent and copyright. The issues of a network effect impacting innovation in software development, of the outlook for using intellectual property rights to protect software, of the "commons-based creativity" argument for allowing access to open source software, of a perception that the U.S. court system's view of computers is related to unpatentable ideas and multiple patentable machines, and of the rationale for wanting to patent business methods.
Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	The article refers to intellectual property law in the United States and focuses on the computer industry where software is protected by patent and copyright. The issues of a network effect impacting innovation in software development, of the outlook for using intellectual property rights to protect software, of the "commons-based creativity" argument for allowing access to open source software, of a perception that the U.S. court system's view of computers is related to unpatentable ideas and multiple patentable machines, and of the rationale for wanting to patent business methods.
ISSN:	00010782
DOI:	10.1145/1562164.1562184