“Intellectual Property Rights” Moderated by Michel Denber
Conference:
Type(s):
Entry Number: 01
Title:
- Intellectual Property Rights
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Moderator(s):
Additional Information:
The issues surrounding software patents and intellectual property rights are controversial and timely. They have a direct and important bearing on the computer graphics community (both technical and artistic) as well as the programming and end-user communities as a whole. The issues have been brought to the fore by a series of highly-publicized (and highly controversial) lawsuits in recent years involving major industry players including Xerox, Apple, Lotus, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Intel, Fujitsu, and IBM over cases ranging from copyrights on microcode to the “look and feel” of graphical user interfaces. Equally important is the recent stream of patents on specific computer algorithms. Despite the publicity ( or perhaps because of it), there seems to be much confusion among programmers regarding the basic principles of trade secret law, copyright, and patent law, not to mention the ultimate implications of these developments. Even within the legal community, there is considerable disagreement over specific interpretations of the law.
This panel examines software copyrights, patents, and intellectual property rights in a discussion between parties on both sides of the fence, hopefully leading to a greater understanding of the issues involved and how they will affect computer graphics practitioners.
