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Please reply to all 3 (5 points each)Assignment 5 (intellectual property).docActions

Digital Rights Management

Some people argue that digital rights management violates the public’s right to fair uses. Should people or companies that create intellectual property have the right to offer it for sale (or license) in a form protected by their choice of digital rights management technology (assuming the restrictions are clear to potential customers)? Should people have a legal right to develop, sell, buy and use devices and software to remove digital rights management restrictions for fair uses? (see Section 4.3 Gift of Fire).

Companies selling music or movies can include digital rights management tools that cause files to self-destruct after a specified amount of time. Give some advantages and disadvantages of this practice. Do you think it is ethical for entertainment businesses to sell content with such a limitation? Why or why not?

Free Software

Consider the “Free Software” approach advocated by Richard Stallman and others (see Section 4.5 Gift of Fire). Do you think this approach should be adopted? How you think the Free Software approach would affect the quantity and quality of software that would be produced? Would the current funding methods for free software be sufficient? Are there other modifications of the current system of software licensing that should be considered? Which arguments for free software apply to music? What are some of the arguments people give to justify copying software? Debate whether software should be copyrightable or should be freely available for copying.

Patents

There is much controversy about whether a patent is an appropriate protection mechanism for software (see Section 4.6 Gift of Fire).  What are some reasons that it is an appropriate protection? What are some arguments why it is not? Patents only protect within the country that grants the patent. A single company may have to apply for patents in several countries to protect their investment. Discuss your thoughts on this process, as it is time consuming and expensive. Do you feel this is necessary? Do you think a global standard would work? If so, how? Some countries have not recognized or protected intellectual property, including trademarks. Intellectual property piracy has been more common outside the U.S. Why do you think this is? Do many of the countries with high piracy rates have a significant software industry? Discuss reasons for this. Develop an argument whether you think patents are or are not a sufficient protection for software.