Legal and Business Issues

The following set of notes corresponds to the Ethics and Business module of the Internet Design course, providing students an outline of the information they are expected to understand. The corresponding reading for this module is chapter 11 of i-Net+ Study Guide by David Groth, et. al., pages 513-519.

Legal Issues

• Intellectual property refers to "products" created by a person or company. These products are usually intangibles, such as stories, images, software, and music.
• Intellectual property is protected through copyright law, which insures that the original creator maintains control of his creation and receives compensation from those who wish to use it.
• Creations that are not copyrighted are in the public domain and may be used by any one for any purpose.
• Copyrights may be obtained by common law or by official registration. Simply writing "Copyright" or ©, the date, and the author's name on a work creates a common law copyright.For an official copyright, a work must be filed with the US Copyright Office.
• In general, a copyright is international. If a work is copyrighted in one country, it is automatically copyrighted in all other countries that adhere to the Berne Convention treaty.
• Fair use of copyright material allows the material to be used without consulting the copyright owner as long as the use is considered "fair". Fairness typically means that the owner is not deprived of an opportunity to make money.
• To use copyrighted material beyond "fair use", the user must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The owner may deny permission, allow use free of charge, or require a licensing fee to use the copyrighted material.
• A copyright may be transferred to a different owner with a written statment of assignment.
• Copyright violations are typically a matter of civil, rather than federal, law.
• A trademark is anything that identifies or distinguishes a product or service. Trademarks may be declared by simply using the TM symbol or may be formally registered with the government. A registered trademark is denoted by ®.
• Physical devices and processes are protected with patents, wich grant the creator exclusive control over the use of his creation. All patents must be formally registered to be truly patented. A device or process will merit a patent only if the product is useful, new, and not an obvious solution.
• Patent pending status simply means that the creator has applied for a patent but it has not been granted yet.

The Open Source Movement

• Most commercial software is sold in executable form only, meaning there is no way to look at the original code. Open Source Software is software that includes the original code, allowing users with programming skills to make changes to the program.
• Some Open Source Software is simply public domain software, meaning anyone may use it for free. Other Open Source Software may be protected by different types of copyrights, such as copyleft or the GPL.
• Under copyleft and GPL restrictions, software is free to use, distribute, and modify. However, these licenses require that anyone who modifies the original program releases their work under the same license as the original work, thus assuring that the software will remain free and open source.
• Open source software is built on the idea that allowing programmers world-wide to modify a program will result in better software than can be produced by only a few programmers working in isolation.

Business Issues

• Be aware of differences in language and culture when developing a site or communicating with international users.
• When dealing with international payments, credit cards supply the easiest currency transfers.
• In international business, be aware of the need to conform to the law in both countries, including export or import restrictions.
• Push technologies send information from a server to a client without the client having to directly request the data. This technology is used for automatic news updates, mailing lists, user-specific advertising, and everyone's favorite, SPAM.
• Pull technologies rely on a user or client browser to request information. These requests can be automated by the HTML code so that a user's screen is refreshed automatically at set intervals. Since the client browser is making the request, this is a pull technology.
• A banner ad is a graphic link placed on one web site advertising a different web site. Site owners may charge advertisers for space on their web page, or may work out some other deal for showing the advertisement.
• Webrings are collections of sites focused on a central theme. Site creators subscribe to the webring, usually providing a link to the webring home page index and possibly to other sites on the ring.
• In business, be aware that the Internet can be used by your company as a positive promotion tool, as well as by customers who have a complaint agains your company. Monitor the consumer sites, new groups, and mailing lists that others might use to complain publicly about your company so that you have an opportunity to respond.
• Commerce sites on the Internet focus on either business-to-consumer (B2C) sales or business-to- business (B2B) sales.
• EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a technology standard for exchanging data across networks. EDI is used to make electronic fund transfers, including transfers made using ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines).
• Online cataloging involves making a business' product catalog available online. This merchant system improves upon standard paper catalogs by allowing for easier catalog updates, customizing sales to the individual as he browses, and automatically tracking user interactions.
• Business web sites should be designed to provide customer self-service, allowing the customer to search through owner's manuals, walk through trouble-shooting guides, contact customer service through email, and in general relieving some of the load from customer service personelle.