John Carlo Tigue
August 30, 2016
BSEE - 4
TTH
1:30
–
2:30
PM
A Case Study of Clare Bartlett: Copyright Concerns SDX Alliance is a large company that sells computers, computer components, and software. Ralph is hired as an entry-level software engineer at SDX Alliance. His first project was to assist in writing the code for SDX Alliance’s new hard disc controller. He had previously worked on a similar system interning at a start-up and had written a code which greatly enhanced the performance of their product. Ralph quietly re-uses this same code in the SDX Alliance product, and does not think to tell anyone that he has used the code from his last job. His manager is thrilled with the speed improvements this code brings to the product. Before the product is released, it has to undergo a four-month long quality assurance process review. During the review of the product, it was found the code which Ralph developed had been copyrighted by the startup he had previously worked for. Even though Ralph had developed the code, his previous company still owned the intellectual property rights to it. When his manager informed Ralph of the problem, Ralph admits he did not realize he had made a mistake because he was not familiar with copyright laws. Ralph then goes on to explain that the start-up he used to work for is now out of business and is unsure if SDX Alliance would be able to get in contact with the owner of the copyright. If SDX Alliance can’t use Ralph’s code, then it will have to rewrite the entire code of the product, delaying its release by many months. What should they do? Clare Bartlett was a 2014-2015 Hackworth Fellow in Engineering Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. August 2015
Source: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more/engineering-ethics/engineering-ethicscases/copyright-concerns/
NARRATIVE REPORT OF THE CASE STUDY Intellectual property (IP) protection is absolutely critical for protecting a company's proprietary designs, processes, and inventions that, if leaked to competitors or made public, could ruin a company's market advantage and reputation or lead to costly litigation. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), intellectual property refers to "creations of the mind: inventions, literary, and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. IP is divided into two categories: industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs." Engineers, then, are professional innovators who work in the realm of industrial property and are often the first involved in creating a proprietary design or invention. Engineers are often on the front line of innovation. As consultants, they also share intimate details of their clients' designs, materials, products, and processes— highly confidential work. Some scientists, however, are more interested in focusing on the technology and don't always realize the finer (or more nebulous) points of protecting IP. According to the code of ethics for electrical engineers, “Members, before undertaking work for others that involves improvements, plans, designs, inventions or other records which may be copyrighted or patented, should attempt to enter into an agreement regarding the ownership of such copyrights or patents.” Therefore, in the case of Ralph, to protect the intellectual property or infringement of his prior employer, he has to know well if that copyright of the computer code was owned by his present employer or there is a clear right to copy which is recorded in a licence agreement. The owner of copyright can control copying of the materials by others, but not the use of information it is based on. For example, if an engineering specification is rewritten in different words, there is no copyright infringement. Ralph, however, can resolve the dispute of copyright infringement through direct negotiation, anotice and take down process, or litigation in civil court. Egregious or Source: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more/engineering-ethics/engineering-ethicscases/copyright-concerns/
large-scale commercial infringement, especially when it involves counterfeiting, is sometimes prosecuted via the criminal justice system. Shifting public expectations, advances in digital technology, and the increasing reach of the Internet have led to such widespread, anonymous infringement that copyright-dependent industries now focus less on pursuing individuals who seek and share copyright-protected content online, and more on expanding copyright law to recognize and penalize – as "indirect" infringers – the service providers and software distributors which are said to facilitate and encourage individual acts of infringement by others.
Source: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/more/engineering-ethics/engineering-ethicscases/copyright-concerns/