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.
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