Sparkman 1

Setup up the paper for presentation for later.

Intellectual Property (Open Source and Freedom Respecting Software)

Intellectual Property also known as IP and defined by Wolfram|Alpha refers to,
intangible property that is the result of creativity (such as patents of trademarks or
copyrights) Patents, trademarks, and copyrights protect companies and peoples
created property from copycats as well as infringements. Intellectual Property also
includes software that a people create for multimillion dollar companies or for the
average joe called proprietary software. On the other spectrum is FOSS or Free and
Open-Source Software that is freely available for people to view, change, and share the
software.
Van Lindberg the author of Intellectual Property and Open Source defines IP as,
Even from these brief descriptions, it should be obvious that the term intellectual
property encompasses a number of divergent and even contradictory bodies of law.
Returning to the law and code analogy above, intellectual property isnt really analogous
to just one program. Rather, it is more like four (or more) programs all possibly acting
concurrently on the same source materials. The various IP programs all work
differently and lead to different conclusions. It is more accurate, in fact, to speak of
copyright law or patent law rather than a single overarching IP law. It is only slightly
tongue in cheek to say that there is an intellectual property office suite running on the
operating system of U.S. law (5). Van Lindbergs views IPs as different entities rather
than one law to rule them all. As people who go into getting copyrights and patents for
their software know, this process is very difficult and takes a long time usually to obtain
the law you want on your product. Should the person go the copyright way or the patent
way will have seen that copyright and patents are not the same and do not protect the
same.
The GPL or GNU General Public License is widely used free software license,
which guarantees end users the freedom to run, study, share, and modify the software.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, is an advocate for creating software and
having it freely be availbale to everyone. Heather Meeker, the author of Open (Source)
For Business, quoted Eric Raymond in his analogy called (4) The Cathedral and the
Bazaar in regards to Open Source to Proprietary Software saying, Developing
proprietary software is like building a medieval cathedral: a powerful organization (the
Church) conceives a project, rasies funds, and appoints a master bilder, who in turn
employs artisans and builders to execute the project. The progress of the project is
limited by the sponsors funds and the ability of the master builder to overs the project.
Open source development is like a bazaar. Anyone can try to sell wares. The
marketplace determines what is bought and sold. Development is collaborative,
resources are not scarce, and no one person or organization entirely controls the
project. If the marketplace demands it, the direction fo the project will change, or the
project may split into multiple projects.

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Intellectual property is the conerstone to innovation and capitalsm. With this comes
protection but this protection is not forever.Patents are only protected for 20 years.
Copyrights are much more protective and usually last 50-70 years after the death of the
authors creator, 95 years from publication, or 120 years from creation, whichever
expires first. After this time the authors work will then go the public domain.
Proprietary software is what most people are used to if they have a Windows or
Apple product. These devices are very functional and provide the user with many great
programs and features that make them unique. But because of this uniqueness these
companies require patents and copyrights for their software. This way they can protect
their software and their product. Usually with the closed source software comes fast
updates and patches as well as motivation to keep their product running effieciantly as
possible as there is usually money involved. But often times there may be security holes
known and unknown that leave people vulnerable because only the software developers
can see the code. Many proprietary programs we use today are wonderful. Adobe
photoshop is one that many would consider the best in its class. It does come with a
hefty price tag though. Though because of its supierority, many do not question the cost.
Users of this program who do not know all the features or understand how to use the
program to its fullest capabilities are not the same as developers who have to work with
the program to get stuff to work. Within this lies headaches because the software is
closed and getting something in particular to work may be hard at times.
When open source comes to mind

Works Cited
Lindberg, Van. Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting
Code. 2016. 5. Print
Meeker, Heather. Open (Source) For Business: A Practical Guide to Open Source
Software Licensing. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston,
SC. 2015. 4. Print
Wolfram|Alpha. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Intellectual+Property. Wolfram|
Alpha Knowledgebase, 2016. Feb 13, 2016. Web.