Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988

Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988

1. To protect the rights of those who create and produce material based on original ideas

   • Intellectual Property
   • Avoids higher prices for those who but legally and encourages software houses to be innovative

2. Copyright

   • Comes into effect immediately as soon as something is 'fixed' in someway
   • No official register for copyright, but it is a good idea to mark work with the copyright symbol, your name and the date
   • Type of work protected
     • Original literary works
     • Original dramatic works
     • Original musical works
     • Original artistic works
     • Published editions of works
     • sound recordings
     • films, including videos
     • podcasts/ broadcasts
   • Does not protect ideas, it protects the way in which it is expressed

3. Website copyright conditions

   • Copyright also covers the content on websites
   • copyright information often shown in the 'conditions of use' or 'copyright statement'
   • Copyright statements might be attached as a footnote to electronically stored materials and school web pages.

4. Software piracy

   • involves the illegal copying of computer software.
     • Individuals borrowing CDs or software and putting it on their own computer
     • Professional criminals making copies in bulk and selling them through illegal outlets
   • End User License Agreement (EULA)
     • Purchaser does not 'own' the software but has purchased the right to use it
     • Single User
       • can only be loaded onto one machine
     • Multi User
       • bought for a certain number of users
     • Site license
       • bought for everyone on that that site or in an office to use the software.

5. Copyright issues

   • Technical solutions - giving each copy of the software a digital signature
   • Enforcement - taking court action against an individual or an organisation
   • Education - to alert people to the indirect costs that resulted from software piracy
   • Abandon copyright - software should be seen as 'public good'
   • Difficulties in prevention
     • many don't see it as a crime
     • privacy laws prevent investigation unless there is a suspicion
     • copying takes place in countries less regulated