Abstract

The digital world has introduced new challenges in the efforts to protect intellectual property and foster innovation. In the last 25 years, patents and copyrights have sometimes served to promote new ideas. Other times, they have prevented companies from marketing new products and forced them to license ideas from companies or individuals whose original intentions were quite different.  Copyrights, patent law, and idea security are all issues that need to be revisited in the digital age.

This webpage explores the history of copyright and patent law with regard to computer software.  It also presents a number of suggestions for intellectual property rights systems which would protect new ideas without preventing others from adopting obvious industry standards.