So I became fairly familiar with patent and copyright laws. I was able to determine that we could probably not get a patent on what we were doing it was pretty obvious how to do it , but we were implicitly and automatically granted copyright over the code and could argue in court if need be that a competitor's code was based on ours without proper payment.
The lesson I learned from this was fairly striking: Copyright is powerful. Most folks do not realize how strong it is and that you don't actually have to do anything to copyright your work. If I make a doodle on a dinner napkin, I automatically have a copyright on it, which can be enforced. Of course, proof of authorship is always helpful and publicly marking something as being copyrighted makes it clear to all those who view the work that there is a copyright on it. However, the lack of copyright markings does not grant free usage.
For starters, programmers are notorious for going to a search engine when they get stuck on a problem and then copying and pasting code into their code without the necessary modifications. Unfortunately, this is most likely illegal unless the poster of the original code expressly granted usage rights to you.
In other words, by hitting the search engine and grabbing some code, you are opening your employer up to a potential lawsuit. Granted, the chances of this being noticed are probably billions to one; but if you aren't granted express usage rights, you are probably in violation of the law. Well, it depends on the type of open source license it has. However, the GPL is a completely different story. The GPL has a sneaky way of injecting itself into projects in a way that can potentially force large amounts of a project if not the entire thing to be subject to it.
Microsoft is a huge contributor to the license and copyright headaches. If you are working on a project, there is a darn good chance that Microsoft has a patent on something identical or similar, particularly in some oddball parts of computing.
And Microsoft has never been afraid to flex its legal muscles in other words, when buying out the offender would be more expensive than suing them. Microsoft also has a bad habit of slipping unusual license terms like the no benchmark clause in places that you would not expect.
Before embarking on a project that makes use of Microsoft technologies, I recommend that you carefully inspect all relevant licenses; if you are unsure about what they mean, consult a lawyer. Other works, including songs, can also fall into plagiarism if they are too similar to the creation of another artist or author. Plagiarism can lead to punishments and penalties from universities and professional groups. Aside from these types of punishments, plagiarism also has legal consequences.
Even though most students know plagiarism is wrong , a large number of them do it anyway because they don't think they will get caught. Some students accidentally plagiarize because they don't know how to properly cite a source. It is easy for students to find essays on any topic from a number of websites and then submit a paper as their own. These websites, also called paper mills, encourage students to trade their papers with each other or take someone else's work.
Plagiarism leads to a number of personal, ethical, professional, and legal consequences. Even plagiarizing one time can cause a person to always be regarded with suspicion of if they are actually submitting their own work or using someone else's in the future.
RESPECT for the intellectual work of others has traditionally been essential to the mission of colleges and universities. As members of the academic community, we value the free exchange of ideas. Just as we do not tolerate plagiarism, we do not condone the unauthorized copying of software, including programs, applications, data bases and code. Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic discourse and enterprise.
This principle applies to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to acknowledgement, right to privacy, and right to determine the form, manner and terms of publication and distribution. Because electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of others is especially critical in computer environments.
Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community. When you buy software, you are actually acquiring a license to use it, not own it. You acquire the license from the company that owns the copyright. The conditions and restrictions of the license agreement vary from program to program and should be read carefully.
In general, commercial software licenses stipulate that. When you acquire software under a shareware arrangement, you are actually acquiring a license to use it, not own it. You acquire the license from the individual or company that owns the copyright. The copyright holders for SHAREWARE allow purchasers to make and distribute copies of the software, but demand that if, after testing the software, you adopt it for use, you must pay for it. In general, shareware software licenses stipulate that.
That means that you can make a single archival copy, but you are obliged to pay for all copies adopted for use. Before March 1, , it was assumed that intellectual works were NOT covered by copyright unless the copyright symbol and declaration appeared on the work.
With the U. The Copyright Law recognizes that all intellectual works programs, data, pictures, articles, books, etc. That means that the owner of a copyright holds the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute his or her work. For software this means it is illegal to copy or distribute software, or its documentation, without the permission of the copyright holder.
If you have a legal copy of software you are allowed to make a single archival copy of the software for backup purposes. However, the copy can only be used if the original software is destroyed or fails to work.
When the original is given away, the backup copy must also be given with the original or destroyed.
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