Chapter 2

Creativity

2. Employer and Employee rights in IT matters

Employment law covers all rights and obligations within the employer-employee relationship
whether current employees, job applicants, or former employees. Because of the complexity of
employment relationships and the wide variety of situations that can arise, employment law
involves legal issues as diverse as discrimination, wrongful termination, wages and taxation, and
workplace safety. Many of these issues are governed by applicable federal and state law. However,
the employment relationship is based on a valid contract entered into by the employer and the
employee, state contract law alone may dictate the rights and duties of the parties.

2.1. Relationships between IT Workers and IT Users

The term IT user distinguishes the person who uses a hardware or software product from the IT
workers who are:

Develop the software

Install the software
Service, and support the product.
IT users need the product to deliver organizational benefits or to increase their productivity
whereas IT workers have a duty to understand a user’s needs and capabilities to deliver products
and services that best meet those business objectives, budget and time constraints. In addition, IT
workers have a key responsibility to establish an environment that supports ethical behavior by
users. Such an environment discourages software piracy, which means unauthorized use of others
works, minimizes the inappropriate use of corporate computing resources, and avoids the
inappropriate sharing of information.

2.2. Relationships between IT Workers and Society

Regulatory laws establish safety standards for products and services to protect the public.
However, these laws are less than perfect, and they fail to safeguard against all negative side effects
of a product or process. Often, professionals can clearly see what effect their work will have and

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can take action to eliminate potential public risks. Thus, society expects members of a profession
to provide significant benefits and not cause harm through their actions.

One approach to meeting this expectation is to establish and maintain professional standards that
protect the public. Clearly, the actions of an IT worker can affect society. For example, a systems
analyst may design a computer-based control system to monitor a chemical manufacturing process.
A failure or an error in the system may put workers or residents near the plant at risk. As a result,
IT workers have a relationship with society members who may be affected by their actions.
However, no formally organized body of IT workers that takes responsibility for establishing and
maintaining standards that protect the public.

2.3. Relationships between IT Workers and Suppliers

IT workers deal with many different hardware, software, and service providers. Most IT workers
understand that building a good working relationship with suppliers encourages the flow of useful
communication as well as the sharing of ideas. Such information can lead to innovative and cost-
effective ways of using the supplier’s products and services.

2.4. Professional Ethics

Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy that deals with how computing professionals
should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. There are three primary
influences:

1. An individual’s own personal code

2. Any informal code of ethical behavior existing in the work place
3. Exposure to formal codes of ethics

2.5. Development of Software: Who owns the intellectual property (IP)?

Intellectual property is a term used to describe works of the mind such as art, books, films,
formulas, inventions, music, and processes that are distinct and owned or created by a single person
or group. In another hands, it is a range of intangible rights of ownership in an asset such as a
software program or it is a type of “natural right” that is granted to an individuals for the products
that result from their labor. If these assets are not protected, other companies can copy or steal
them, resulting in significant loss of revenue and competitive advantage. The law provides

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different methods for protecting these rights of ownership based on their type. There are essentially
four types of intellectual property rights relevant to software:

1. Patents
2. Copyrights
3. Trade secrets
4. Trademarks
Each affords a different type of legal protection.
Intellectual property is an umbrella term for various types of rights individuals or businesses can
have in their:

 Names
 Creative Works and
 Inventions
 Software developers need a solid understanding of their rights to
 Develop and protect a brand;
 Ensure exclusive ownership of their creations and
 Keep their work confidential to create and maintain an advantage in this
competitive market.
1. Patents – Software
 A patent is a grant of a property right issued by the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) to an inventor.
 A patent permits its owner to exclude the public from making, using, or selling a protected
invention, and it allows for legal action against violators.
 Unlike a copyright, a patent prevents independent creation as well as copying.
 Even if someone else invents the same item independently and with no prior knowledge of
the patent holder’s invention, the second inventor is excluded from using the patented
device without permission of the original patent holder.
 A patent entitles an Inventor to exclude others from making, using or selling the claimed
invention for a period of 20 years.
 To obtain a patent, your software or algorithm must have a very high level of originality
and you must disclose the “recipe” for your invention to the public.

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  A Software Developer can get a patent on software inventions much as if a Mechanical
Engineer can get a patent on a new machine or device.
The main body of law that governs patents rights is contained in Title 35 of the U.S. Code, which
states that an invention must pass the following four tests to be eligible for a patent:

It must fall into one of five legal classes of items that can be patented:
o Processes
o Machines
o Manufactures (such as objects made by humans or machines)
o Compositions of matter (such as chemical compounds)
o New uses in any of the previous four classes.
It must be useful.
It must be novel.
It must not be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the same field
2. Copyrights – Software
 A copyright is the exclusive rights to distribute, display, perform, or reproduce an original
work in copies to prepare derivative works based on the work.
 Copyright protection is granted to the creators of “original works of authorship in any
tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be
perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a
machine or device.”
 The author may grant this exclusive right to others. As new forms of expression develop,
they can be awarded copyright protection.
a. Eligible Works: The types of work that can be copyrighted include architecture, art,
audiovisual works, choreography, drama, graphics, literature, motion pictures, music,
pantomimes, pictures, sculptures, sound recordings, and other intellectual works. It also
includes new technologies; thus, software, video games, multimedia works, and Web pages
can all be protected.
 To be eligible for a copyright, a work must fall within one of the preceding categories and
it must be original.

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b. Software Copyright Protection
The use of copyrights to protect computer software raises many complicated issues of
interpretation. For example, a software manufacturer can observe the operation of a competitor’s
copyrighted program and then create a program that accomplishes the same result and performs in
the same manner. To prove infringement, the copyright holder must show a striking resemblance
between its software and the new software that could be explained only by copying. However, if
the new software’s manufacturer can establish that it developed the program on its own, without
any knowledge of the existing program, there is no infringement.

c. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights secured by the owner of a copyright.

Infringement occurs when someone copies a substantial and material part of another has
copyrighted work without permission.
d. Fair Use Doctrine
Copyright law tries to strike a balance between protecting an author’s rights and enabling public
access to copyrighted works. The fair use doctrine was developed over the years as courts worked
to maintain that balance. The fair use doctrine allows portions of copyrighted materials to be used
without permission under certain circumstances.
Title 17, section 107, of the U.S. Code established four factors that courts should consider when
deciding whether a particular use of copyrighted property is fair and can be allowed without
penalty:
 The purpose and character of the use (commercial use or nonprofit, educational purposes)
 The nature of the copyrighted work
 The portion of the copyrighted work used in relation to the work as a whole
 The effect of the use on the value of the copyrighted work
The key difference between a patent and a copyright is that patent rights can protect you from
people who try to imitate your software.
Software copyrights have a narrower scope and will only protect you if someone copies actual
executable or source code or graphics from your software.
3. Trade secret
Trade secret is defined as business information that represents something of economic value, has
required effort or cost to develop, has some degree of uniqueness or novelty, is generally unknown
to the public, and is kept confidential. Trade secret protection begins by identifying all the

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information that must be protected from undisclosed patent applications to market research and
business plans and developing a comprehensive strategy for keeping the information secure.

Trade secret law protects only against the misappropriation of trade secrets. If competitors come
up with the same idea on their own, it is not misappropriation; in other words, the law does not
prevent someone from using the same idea if it was developed independently. Trade secret law has
several key advantages over the use of patents and copyrights in protecting companies from losing
control of their intellectual property, as summarized in the following list:

1. There are no time limitations on the protection of trade secrets, as there are with patents
and copyrights.
2. There is no need to file an application, make disclosures to any person or agency, or
disclose a trade secret to outsiders to gain protection.
3. While patents can be ruled invalid by the courts, meaning that the affected inventions no
longer have patent protection, this risk does not exist for trade secrets.
4. No filing or application fees are required to protect a trade secret.

4. Trademarking the Software & Company Name (Domain Name)

 A trademark distinguishes one person’s goods or services from those of another. The rights
exist either via common law or by registration.
 Trademarks can be used to protect your company name or product name, domain names,
images, symbols, logos, slogans, colors, product designs and product packaging.
 Registering your trademark will help you prevent others from using your mark in a way
that might confuse customers or damage your business reputation.
 A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or device used to indicate the source of goods or
services.
 Registered Trademarks are always renewable in periods of 10 years.
 Domain Names: Domain Name System (DNS) is used instead of IP numbers. Generic Top
Level Domain (GTLD) are ones such as
 .com  .aero
 .net  .biz
 .org +  .coop

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  .info  .name and .pro.
 .museum
 This is all managed by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers) which is a non-profit organization responsible for the namespaces of the Internet.
The country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .za administered by www.zadna.org.za. The
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a department of ICANN, and coordinates
the Internet Protocol (IP) addressing systems.

2.6. Reasonable Limitations On IP Ownership by An Employee

 Patents
 A couple applicable exceptions (limitation) to this general rule under the
common law:
 Employer – Specified Inventions – Inventions made by an employee
at the employer’s request and expense, and which are considered as a
property of employer.
 Shop Right Rule – An employer is not entitled to ownership of the
invention but retains a nonexclusive right, akin to a license, to make use
of the invention.
Normally accumulates when the employee made use of employer resources or property in making
or perfecting the invention, and the scope of the shop right will be a fact-dependent on the extent
of the employer’s resource contribution.

Employers can avoid these defaults by requiring employees to sign pre-invention assignment
agreements require the employee to assign their patent rights to the employer.

► Copyrights
 A form of protection provided by the laws to the Authors of original works of
authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual
works.
 The Author of a work owns the copyright unless:
 There is a written agreement assigning the copyright to someone else or the
work was “made for rental.” A “work made for hire”.

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2.7.The Nature of Digital Reliability and Failure

Types

A fault at the HW or SW component

 Defect for HW technology
 Bug for SW technology
Nature

 HW fault: defect within a HW component

 SW fault: bug within a SW module

Duration

1. Permanent fault (static/hard faults) : remains active for a significant period of time (eg:
damaged or incorrectly implemented component)
2. Temporary fault (dynamic/soft faults)
o Transient fault: appears for a very short period and disappears (eg: soft error)
o Intermittent (periodic) fault: appears, disappears, and reappears (eg: a parasitic signal
emitted by a part of an electronic system disturbs another part during the operation)
Origin

 Where
o Internal fault: origin of the fault is product itself (eg: incorrectly designed
component)
o External fault: the fault results from user or environments (eg: operator mistakes or
soft error)
 When
o Creation: origin of the cause to faults is during specification, design, and
production
o Operation: faults occur at regular operation

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2.8.Software and Hardware Representation and Risk Communication – Who is
responsible?
o Providing appropriate software and hardware utilization in the workplace
contribute advantages to both employee and employer.
o Inappropriate utilization of software and hardware could compromise productivity
of an employee and employer or the company as a whole.
o The responsibility lies on both, the employee and the employer. There should be
proper and appropriate communication and usage of its technologies suited to the
workplace and field of expertise in the productivity in the assigned task to its
employees.
2.9. From Medical Software to “Star Wars” and The Complexity of Computer Systems
 The implementation of software technology advancement in the field of medical
areas is vital on its utilization in generating and providing reliable information to its
patience and the credibility of the medical institution as a whole.
 Workers in the medical areas are responsible in providing accurate and informative
information based on specific findings through complete analysis.
 Continuous training to both medical workers and owners are encourage for better
implementation, utilization and in providing of informative information anchored
with the complexity of its system technology.

2.10. Origins of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility: What is reasonable
reliability in complex system
 Complicated system’s developers should have narrow and complete knowledge in
the development process.
 Obtaining consistency in generating accurate information
 Designing centralize information
 Accessing rapid information and capable in updating new information is very much
vital.
 Address end-users with the proper and complete training for better accessibility and
usability in providing informative information.