Readings

The readings for this week focus on intellectual property:

• WIPO - What is IP?

• The History of Software Patents: From Benson, Flook, and Diehr to Bilski and Mayo v. Prometheus

On patents:

• Patent Trolls

• Apple ordered to pay $502.6M to VirnetX after jury finds patent infringement (followup)

• Microsoft open-sources its patent portfolio

On open source:

• What is open source?

• Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software

• “Google’s use of the Java API packages was not fair,” appeals court rules

And DMCA:

• EFF - Digital Millennium Copyright Act

• What Is the DCMA, and Why Does It Take Down Web Pages?

On reverse engineering:

• Coders' Rights Project Reverse Engineering FAQ

• We Can't Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership

• ‘Right to repair’ advocates claim major victory in smartphone copyright exemption

On piracy:

• Trump Promises Copyright Crackdown as DoJ Takes Aim at Streaming Pirates

• The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent

• "DRM is Used to Lock in, Control and Spy on Users"

Optional: Patents

This podcast considers the pros and cons of patents:

• The Case Against Patents

These articles focus on software patents:

• When Patents Attack!

• The Supreme Court doesn't understand software, and that's a problem

These articles focus on patent trolls:

• Universities have turned over hundreds of patents to patent trolls

• Why patent trolls won’t give up

These articles focus on the recent Apple patent infringement case:

• Apple Must Pay $502.6 Million to VirnetX, Federal Jury Rules

• How Virnetx Beat Apple: The Strange Case of the Patent Trolls

Optional: Open Source

These articles explain open source:

• Open Source World

• Freeing the Source - The Story of Mozilla

These articles discuss the difference between open source and free software:

• What is free software?

• Why you should use a BSD style license for your Open Source Project

These articles attack the idea of open source:

• A Generation Lost in the Bazaar

• OpenSSL Heartbleed: Bloody nose for open-source bleeding hearts

These articles discuss the recent Oracle v Google case:

• Google Could Owe Oracle $8.8 Billion in Android Fight

• The Case That Never Ends: Oracle Wins Latest Round vs. Google

Optional: Digital Millennium Copyright Act

These article discuss the DMCA:

• 10 Years Later, Misunderstood DMCA is the Law That Saved the Web

• The Tyranny of Copyright?

Optional: Reverse Engineering

These articles discuss reverse engineering:

• Software, reverse engineering and the law

• No, You Really Can't

These articles discuss the right to repair things:

• It's Finally Legal To Hack Your Own Devices (Even Your Car)

• The US Government Wants to Permanently Legalize the Right to Repair

These articles consider the negative impacts of copyright:

• The Copyright Rule We Need to Repeal If We Want to Preserve Our Cultural Heritage

• "I Want to Know What Code Is Running Inside My Body"

Optional: Piracy

These articles discuss piracy:

• Music piracy is down but still very much in play

• Goodbye to Piracy

These articles discuss DRM:

• America's broken digital copyright law is about to be challenged in court

• Analog: The Last Defense Against DRM

These articles discuss the recent W3C controversy:

• The Fight Over DRM Standards for Streaming Video Is Over and Big Business Won

• HTML5 DRM finally makes it as an official W3C Recommendation

These articles discuss the use of DMCA:

• YouTube Are Criminal Piracy Racketeers, Grammy Winner Says

• RIAA still hates the DMCA, even as streaming revenues soar

Quiz

Once you have completed the readings, fill out the following quiz:

Note, you can view the initial quiz score after you submit your responses. If you get any answers wrong, you can go back and adjust your answers as necessary. After the deadline has passed, any wrong answers will be given partial credit.