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Intellectual Property and Open Source


When programmers get together to talk, the conversation is likely at some point to turn from .NET frameworks or memory usage patterns to copyrights, patents, or trade secrets. People in the computer field realize that a cluster of legal concerns known as intellectual property (IP) plays a big role in its development. Consider just a few of the headline-making legal issues in technology over the past decade, most of which will be remembered by readers of this book: • One of the most explosively popular applications in modern times, Napster, was shut down by a copyright infringement lawsuit in 2000. The founders of Napster thought they were safe from copyright infringement charges because the service itself never copied music files. But because its users shared copyrighted music without authorization from the copyright holders, the Supreme Court took down Napster a theory of “contributory copyright infringement.” • Around the same time, a promising new file-sharing service called Aimster was temporarily shut down on a different IP basis: America Online claimed infringement on its AIM trademark.
Van Lindberg - Personal Name
978-0-596-51796-0
NONE
Information Technology
English
2008
1-392
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