Software Development and Intellectual Property Rights

Software Development and Intellectual Property Rights

1. Intellectual Assets Involved in Software Development Processes

   • Different intellectual assets are created in the different software development stages. A typical software development process comprises several generic phases: requirements gathering and analysis, design, construction, testing, debugging, and deployment

2. Types of IP Rights in SDO

   • The input and output works created in the SDO process are subject to the protection of IP rights which are the exclusive rights granted by law over the “use of creations of the minds” for a certain period of time.2 IP owners have exclusive control over a collection of individual rights inherent within the property (Klein and Robinson 2011), including control over the use of a property as well as its returns (Milgrom and Roberts 1992), the right to grant others use of the property, as well as the right to exclude anyone else from using the property without consent (Bainbridge 2007). Furthermore, IP owners are deemed to have the control of residual rights that are not explicitly specified in contracts (Grossman and Hart 1986; Hart 1988; Hart and Moore 1990; Milgrom and Roberts 1992)
     • Right to use the developed software and source code for a specific purpose after the contract ends, but not modify, reproduce, or sell the software. This right does not allow the party to use the developed software, to sell, or to distribute the software program to the public.
     • Right to redeploy the residual knowledge asset such as information relating to ideas, concepts and techniques which are gained in the SDO process into projects for other parties. Different from the right to use which grants the right to use the output of the SDO project, the redeployment right allows the rights holder to use the know-how and information gained in the SDO process, and the residual intellectual assets that may not have been clearly specified in SDO contracts.
     • Right to sell the developed software to third parties in certain geographical regions and industries.