IP Critiques

[savannanoh]

• First half of the chapter felt long, lost sight of overall purpose. Examples are better than abstract legal talk +2 More concrete writing would be nice e.g. 'imagine you have an idea, what can you do with it?' More pictures would be nice too, especially in illustrating the difference between copyright and patents
• Student gave this link: https://pitt.libguides.com/copyright/licenses About different types of copyright licenses and their relevance
• Student says: “"My personal stance is IP law is ultimately an impediment to innovation. It starts from the premise that people can “own” ideas, which I think is a false premise."
• I think this is a provocative statement and I wish Amy had shared a bit more about the reasoning behind this stance. What led her to arrive at this conclusion? Are there any relevant arguments from other disciplines (philosophy, the arts, etc) supporting this position? Are there any contexts in which IP laws have been disbanded that we can use as a comparison case?”
• Talk about how ownership relates to compensation. How to compensate without discouraging collaborative innovation? +1
• If nothing is truly original, at what point should an idea be legally owned/protected?
• Student says: “Given that the chapter ends with encouragement to "closely monitor changes in intellectual property law and legal precedent", I would have found it really helpful to list some sources that students could use to do that, because otherwise it can feel overwhelming.”
• If litigation is too expensive, what’s the point of it? When is it beneficial?
• What are Amy’s thoughts on how IP can be changed and how those changes would affect innovation?
• How does copyright apply in different countries? How would an international lawsuit for IP work? +1
• Go over how to read patents when designing systems. Maybe include an image of a patent and labels for its different sections
• Use of “bits” in this chapter was confusing. Does this mean the entire internet is copyrighted?
• If you work on a personal project outside of work hours but on the company’s laptop, does your idea belong to the company?
• With Instagram directly copying Snapchat’s stories feature, could Snapchat have filed a lawsuit?
• How does IP play into other computing ideas? Like hardware, processes? Example is IBM’s “out of office” email system. Is it fair to own these ideas? +1
• How does one initiate the process of patenting something?
• Give examples of infringement involving one or both small companies (to help students who may be thinking of starting their own companies/patenting their own ideas) +2
• How does academic research IP relate to the industry ideas of it?
• Student says: “We were told, for instance, at the beginning of this program that DUB lectures would pre-date the emergence of the lecture as a research paper, and the subsequent potential adoption of the research into industry via literature reviews. Is there a consistent pathway like this for how many industry ideas are generated, at least by larger tech organizations?”
• How often do designers actually own their own designs as IP? (Rather than the company owning it, university owning it, keeping it trade secret, or the patenting process being too cumbersome)
• What criteria is needed to claim ownership over an interface idea?
• How do specific clauses actually protect ideas, since they’re so complex?
• How does copyright law work for student projects? (Using pre-existing content for educational purposes)
• Is there a point where a company can truly claim they’re being ripped off? Where is the line between inspiration and completely copying and claiming it as your own?
• Explain more about the 20 year rule. Why did they pick 20? Can patents be renewed after 20 years?
• If something is patented, like Apple’s multi-touch, what does that mean? Does that mean anytime someone uses that they have to pay Apple?
• Can you patent art? It has no function, but is a form of expression
• End part should be its own section with its own header since it’s more than a conclusion and contains new information
• Talk about the opposite of IP: open source
• How do designers feel about current IP law? Do they wish there was more protection? Do they not care?
• Why are only copyrights and patents discussed, not trademarks? Trademarks seem to cover the “look and feel” aspect +1
• How do AI/ML generated creations come into play here?
• Discuss the benefits of IP law further (even though it isn’t Amy’s personal stance)
• Terminology:
  • At the beginning, distinguish between copyright and patent
  • Should also clarify that the law protecting ideas must exist in a tangible medium, not someone’s mind
  • Annotated definitions for:
    • Interface idea
    • Copyright
    • Patent
    • Public domain
    • Employer contract
    • Right to license

[savannanoh]

• Have case studies that both go over digital disputes as well as disputes over physical designs.