CS 501: Software EngineeringAdministrationSlide 3Legal EnvironmentLegal Topics in SoftwareStatues and PrecedentsLegal ChangeJurisdiction: BoundariesIntellectual Property Law: CopyrightOwnership of Copyright (USA)Ownership of CopyrightCopyrightCopyright: Derivative SoftwareSoftware Copyright QuestionsSlide 15Copyright: An Old Exam QuestionSlide 17Copyright: An Old Exam QuestionSlide 19Slide 20Slide 21Contracts and LicencesCreative CommonsGNU Public LicenseIntellectual Property: PatentsSoftware PatentsTrade Secrets and Non-Disclosure AgreementsTrade SecretsTrademarkPrivacyPublic or Private Information?Privacy in EmailPrivacy in the WorkplaceBusiness EmailFree SpeechPowerPoint PresentationSlide 37Employment Law: Your Next Job ...Practical AdviceSlide 401CS 501 Spring 2008CS 501: Software EngineeringLectures 5 & 6Legal Aspects of Software Engineering2CS 501 Spring 2008AdministrationProject AnnouncementsSend email with your project team to [email protected] study is due on Friday, February 15.Note that only one team can work on each project. Some clients have more than one project.3CS 501 Spring 2008AdministrationQuizzesThe first quiz is on Thursday. See the web site for sample quizzes.Each quiz:45 minutesopen book and notes, but no computers or other electronic devices2 questions on lectures to date, including today's classThe best three of the four quizzes will be used in calculating your final grade.4CS 501 Spring 2008Legal EnvironmentSoftware is developed in a complex legal and economic framework. Every software engineer needs to be aware of some parts of the framework,but you need a lawyer for anything other than the most basic legal issues.5CS 501 Spring 2008Legal Topics in Software• Jurisdiction (international, federal, state laws)• Intellectual property (copyright, patent, trademark, trade secrets)• Contracts and licenses• Privacy• Free speech and its limitations (government secrets, obscenity)• Commerce (ISPs, e-commerce)• Employment (personnel, your next job, etc.)6CS 501 Spring 2008Statues and PrecedentsThe United States follows Common Law. The law is a combination of:(a) Statutes (bills) passed by Congress and the 50 states.(b) Precedents (judgments) made by courts.See: The Legal Information Institute for the US Code (the actual wording of the law) and much more useful information, http://www.law.cornell.edu/,but ...Do not assume that the interpretation by the courts is what you would expect from reading the statutes!7CS 501 Spring 2008Legal Change•Changes in laws usually follow changes in technical world.•Lawyers and politicians typically have poor technical backgrounds.•The interpretation of many laws is unclear as they have may never have been tested in court because of the cost of litigation.•Law usually develops incrementally. As a result, strange analogies are often made between new technological paradigms and old world systems.8CS 501 Spring 2008Jurisdiction: Boundaries•“The Internet has no boundaries”•If you break a law in Finland, but you were on the Internet in the United States, what happens to you?•What if you are in California and you break a law in Minnesota?•Where do you pay taxes?United States has Federal law, which covers the entire USA, and 50 states, each with its own laws.Relationship between US law and International Law is complex and changing.9CS 501 Spring 2008Intellectual Property Law:CopyrightCopyright is Federal law, which applies to literary works.Originally applied to textual materials, but gradually extended to cover text, music, photographs, designs, software, ...Copyright applies to the expression of ideas (e.g., the words used), not to the ideas themselves, nor to physical items.Software Copyright applies to the program instructions, but not to the concepts behind the instructions, nor to the files on disk or on paper where the programs instructions are stored.10CS 501 Spring 2008Ownership of Copyright (USA)At creation• Copyright is automatically owned by the creator.• Except works for hire, where the employer owns the copyright.Transfer of copyright• In the USA, copyright is property that can be sold or licensed.•The agreement is written as a contract."A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." (Attributed to Yogi Berra.)11CS 501 Spring 2008Ownership of CopyrightInternational differencesMoral rightsIn some countries, e.g., Canada, France, the creator of a work retains moral rights, which cannot be sold (e.g., the right of attribution).RegistrationIn the USA, copyright is established automatically when something is created. In many countries, it is necessary for the creator to register it to claim copyright.12CS 501 Spring 2008CopyrightIn the USA, copyright gives the owner exclusive right to: • reproduce• distribute• perform• display• license others to reproduce, distribute, perform, or displaySpecial exceptions• First sale. The owner of an object, e.g., a book, can sell the object without permission of the copyright owner.• Fair use. Limited use is permitted without permission of the copyright owner, e.g., in a review or short quotation.13CS 501 Spring 2008Copyright: Derivative SoftwareWhen software is derived from other software:• Copyright in new code only is owned by new developer• Conditions that apply to old code apply to derived workIf you write S, which includes code derived from A and B, you cannot distribute or licenses S unless the copyright owners permit you to distribute both A and B.When creating a software product, you should have documented rights to use everything from which it is derived.14CS 501 Spring 2008Software Copyright QuestionsYou are a student on CS 501. When you finish your project:• What use can you make of your work? • What use can your client make of it? • What use can Cornell make of it?15CS 501 Spring 2008Software Copyright QuestionsYou are a student on CS 501. When you finish your project:• What use can you make of your work? • What use can your client make of it? • What use can Cornell make of it? Cornell's policy is that you own the copyright in the work that you do for a class. Anybody else, including Cornell or your clients, needs your permission before using the software in any way.The feasibility study for your project should include a commitment to your clients that they will have extensive rights to the software developed
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