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SpencerWanSecondPaper 2 - 08 Jan 2012 - Main.SpencerWan
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< | | | | It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | | | It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | |
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> | DRAFT READY FOR EDIT
The Consequences of IP: Apple and SOPA | | | -- By SpencerWan - 07 Jan 2012 | | | THE PATENT WARS | |
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Subsection B
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> | Over the past couple years, the giants of communication manufacturers have been exchanging patent infringement claims and counter claims against each other over the uses of patented technology, and Apple has been at the epicenter. Apple has been involved in lawsuits and other claims with Nokia, Samsung, and HTC over the iPhone, and with Motorola and Samsung over the iPad. Most recently, Apple successfully defended a claim against it from HTC in an attempt to ban the import of the Apple iPhone. | | | | |
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> | As evidenced by these multi-million and billion dollar claims, the patent has become one of the most if not the most important asset a corporation can have. Because patentholders are afforded monopolies, owning patents, defending patents, and creating patents are integral to the business model. However, the result of patent wars are detrimental to technological innovation. The internet was created to be open and free for anybody to access. The idea was that open access would ultimately create a better product that is optimized to fit the needs since whenever a need or problem would surface, anybody could fix it. Now with patents dominating the technology industry, every big player relies on patents to secure its market share. This leads us to these patent wars which uses an endless amount of resources devoted to winning these battles in court. These resources should be better utilized in developing new technology or improving existing technology. Moreover, the incentive to patent a fetal idea even before the invention is complete is so high because of the major payout from owning a patent. The patentholder need not have a feasible way of creating a product, but having the patent is as good as having the product itself. This can lead to situations where potential innovation is kept unfulfilled because its in the hands of an owner who has no means to create it. Another possibility is new technologies are blocked because some part of it, integral or not, is under another party's patent. | | | PROTECT IP? | |
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> | The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is currently awaiting vote in the House of Representatives. If SOPA passes into law, it would allow the Department of Justice, but more importantly copyright holders, the power to request court orders to stop the infringement. The court orders can range from barring advertisement and third-party payment services from doing business to requiring Internet service providers to block the sites entirely. The result of this legislation would be a muzzle on the freedom of the internet. It would give copyright holders to power to shut down entire sites without a neutral finding that the site was infringing any rights.
Supporters of SOPA argue that the law is necessary in order to protect the movie and music industries and to prevent online piracy through off-shore sites like www.piratebay.org. However, this law allows a lot of room for abuse since copyright holders can assert their rights on any site. Fortunately, there has been a lot of opposition to the legislation. Recently, there was a video of Al Gore on Youtube in which he spoke out against the legislation. Also, the NetCoalition? , a group made up by some of the internet giants such as Amazon.com, Google, and Facebook, has stated that they do not support the legislation and even threatened to go dark in protest of SOPA. | | | | |
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> | But the current mainstream way of thinking about the piracy issue is misplaced. The bottom line is that the reality of the situation is that piracy cannot be prevented. People will find ways to share their books, music, and movie. When Napster was shutdown, people found other methods to share their music. Likewise, there will be alternatives to the current way of sharing. Moreover, not only will the legislation fail to work effectively, it is infringing on the fundamental right of freedom of speech on the internet and is inherently a shackle on our liberty. | | | | |
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> | What current intellectual property law has created is a system where the rich and those who have fight tooth and nail to suppress the have not's. Software patents have curbed and will continue to curb technological innovation in all industries. Copyright law has kept the movie and music empires thriving while depriving millions around the world from access to books and art. Current intellectual property law needs to be reformed or even eliminated, not protected. | | |
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SpencerWanSecondPaper 1 - 07 Jan 2012 - Main.SpencerWan
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title
-- By SpencerWan - 07 Jan 2012
The traditional rationale for intellectual property law is that it promotes innovation and it gives artists, musicians, and inventors an incentive to produce work. However, as we discussed in class, that rationale and thus the need for intellectual property law is decaying rapidly. In fact, the current laws have created a system in which innovation is stunted and distribution segmented. I will examine two current affairs to elucidate how the current state of intellectual property law is holding society back from innovative goods and efficient distribution.
THE PATENT WARS
Subsection A
Subsub 1
Subsection B
Subsub 1
Subsub 2
PROTECT IP?
Subsection A
Subsection B
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