“Open source as a development model promotes: a) Universal access via free license to a products design or blueprint, and b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone” (Gerber, Molefe, and van der Merwe 2010) In the past fifteen years, the principles ‘Open Source’ have exploded into the software industry. (Open Source Initiative 2012; Weber 2004) Open software now rivals the market share and quality of closed, commercial products. (Spinellis 2008) Following the success of open software, the same principles are being applied to other forms of product development. These include structural standards, furniture and product design, fashion, and architecture. In this essay I am going to offer a brief account on the history and development of the Open Source Movement and open source software. From this historical account, I will examine the successes and failures of the movement. By applying similar logic, I will be able to speculate how Open Source could be applied successfully to different fields, specifically in design and architecture. History. Prior to the arrival of the personal computer and the ‘digital era’, there was a fairly common exchange of information without being bound by monetary reimbursement. People shared cooking recipes, labour, construction methods. A ‘vernacular’ developed through the co-operation of many individuals working towards a common goal. (Blier 2006) Since the invention of capitalism, copyright and licensing has protected individual authors, but stifles the free exchange of information. While patent law is obviously beneficial to the author, the varying breadth of protection for intellectual property could suppress the most important part; ac... ... middle of paper ... ... Van. 1998. “Open Source Summit Trip Report.” Linux Gazette (28). Schindler, By Esther. 2009. “An Abbreviated History of ACP , One of the Oldest Open Source Applications.” IT World. Scotchmer, Suzanne. 1991. “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Cumulative Research and the Patent Law.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. doi:10.1257/jep.5.1.29. Spinellis, Diomidis. 2008. “A Tale of Four Kernels.” In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Software Engineering - ICSE ’08, 381. New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. doi:10.1145/1368088.1368140. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1368088.1368140. W3Counter. 2013. “Web Browser Market Share.” doi:10.1002/ana.24076. http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php. W3Tech. 2013. “World Wide Web Technology Surveys.” http://w3techs.com/. Weber, Steven. 2004. The Success of Open Source. London: Harvard University Press.
(7) Hall B. Patents and Patent Policy -. 2007. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Morse H. SETTLEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICAL DEVICE INDUSTRIES: ANTITRUST RULES. Allison JR, Lemley MA, Moore KA, Trunkey RD. Valuable patents. Geol.
The notion that software should be free is one that is highly critiqued within the technology industry. Free, as in the idea that users can obtain the source code for any given program, and modify and redistribute it as they like. Currently most all software produced is proprietary in nature. Corporations pay developers to create proprietary software that they then obstruct (so that no modifications can be made), and sell (to turn a profit). Richard Stallman has been fighting the idea of proprietary software, and specifically software ownership, for decades. Stallman holds the stance that software ownership is a detriment to society, and stifles innovation, education, and social cohesion.
At the middle of my career, the OSS philosophy was something very strange and bizarre. Very few people were users of computer systems different to Windows or Mac, but for me OSS was a fascinating world. It was a challenge: compile your own software, study the code of others, understand how the programs worked... it was like having detailed instructions for the appliances I previously damaged. The spirit of OSS has been with me ever since. Share what you know and contribute in part to build something bigger has been a guideline in my life. For several years I was the leader of the local OSS user group at my university and even today I belong and collaborate with various OSS projects.
---. “Sharing the Software.” Digital Chameleon: The Rise of Computer Emulation. 13 Sep. 1999. Zophar’s Domain. 25 Oct. 2000.
Over the past decade the societal view of creative society has greatly changed due to advances in computer technology and the Internet. In 1995, aware of the beginning of this change, two authors wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing diametrically opposed views on how this technological change would take form, and how it would affect copyright law. In the article "The Emperor's Clothes Still Fit Just Fine" Lance Rose hypothesized that the criminal nature of copyright infringement would prevent it from developing into a socially acceptable practice. Thus, he wrote, we would not need to revise copyright law to prevent copyright infringement. In another article, Entitled "Intellectual Value", Esther Dyson presented a completely different view of the copyright issue. She based many her arguments on the belief that mainstream copyright infringement would proliferate in the following years, causing a radical revision of American ideas and laws towards intellectual property. What has happened since then? Who was right? This paper analyzes the situation then and now, with the knowledge that these trends are still in a state of transformation. As new software and hardware innovations make it easier to create, copy, alter, and disseminate original digital content, this discussion will be come even more critical.
Intellectual property is an incredibly complicated facet of the law. In the United States, we have many laws in place to control and limit profiting from others intellectual property. The issue is not only profiting from others intellectual property, but not purchasing the property from the originator as well. We will discuss why it is important to protect this property as well as why it is tremendously difficult to regulate all these safe guards. “Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a banana.” Bill Gates
Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property
The Statute of Anne (the first modern form of copyright law) was introduced after the printing press was invented. Before this time, books would have to be hand written and for this reason they were ve...
The reason for this rapid adoption is Linux’s unique ability to provide powerful functionality, security, compatibility, customization at a more cost-effective price than proprietary vendors. In its inception, there were many perceived concerns to utilizing Linux in a corporate infrastructure.
Watson, J. (2008). A history of computer operating systems (pp. 14-17). Ann Arbor, MI: Nimble Books.
One of the most recent examples of ethics and technology conflicts in the United States are privacy issues and how we cite, distribute and publish intellectual property on the internet. For instance, many corporations and people take advantage of the open access of the internet and the lack of legislation governing the right to post and upload information to the internet. Today, nearly every household in the United States has a computer with int...
Because of its intangible nature, and particularly the increase of the digital domain and the internet as a whole, computers and cyber piracy make it easier for people to steal many forms of intellectual property. Due to this major threat, intellectual property rights owners’ should take every single measure to protect their rights. Unless these rights are either sold, exchanged, transferred, or appropriately licensed for use in exchange for a monetary fee, they should be protected at all cost. In order to protect these rights, the federal and states governments have passed numerous laws and statutes to protect intellectual property from misappropriation and infringement. “The source of federal copyright and patent law originates with the Copyright and Patent ...
We have to remind legislators that intellectual property rights are a socially-conferred privilege rather than an inalienable right, that copying is not always evil (and in some cases is actually socially beneficial) and that there is a huge difference between wholesale piracy'the mass-production and sale of illegal copies of protected worksand the filesharing that most internet users go in for.
However, in recent years, it is not uncommon to see copyright in the possession of a third party other than the creator. These companies make use of copyright as an investment and financial tools to gain profit. In this case, the use of copyright loses its original purpose of protecting the creator, but used as a mean for financial gain. This could possibly hinder creativity as innovation becomes a financial tool catered to the tastes of the general public, while the less marketable new ideas goes unnoticed by the general public under the copyright laws. It is crucial to note that online platforms such as blogs, Facebook and Youtube, and people making their music/works available online for free shows the rapid surge in the number of people willing to sacrifice their copyrights to market themselves to the world. In this highly saturated market, copyright laws can become less relevant as marketing and business is placed on higher