Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

intellectual property and computing 245CompetitionAround 2000, Intel’s dominance began to be challenged.The power of modern processors allowed for the developmentof lower-cost commodity PCs, and when Intel continuedits progression toward increased power, competitors,particularly AMD (see Advanced Micro Devices), wereable to gain greater market share with its less expensiveCPUs.In higher power chips (particularly dual- and multi-corechips with more than one processor), Intel seems to havethe edge in the middle of the first decade of the new century,although AMD is coming on strong. Meanwhile Inteland Apple in 2006 made a deal to replace the PowerPC chipin the Macintosh with Intel chips.Intel has struggled with corporate reorganization andlower sales of chipsets and motherboards (even while continuingwith strong sales of its dual-core and quad-coreprocessors). After a decline of 42 percent from 2005 to2006, Intel’s net income increased to about $7 billion in2007. However, its workforce has continued to declinefrom 102,500 in mid-2006 to 86,300 in 2007. However,Intel is expecting to produce more quad-core processors,new laptop components (including flash memory insteadof hard drives), and other innovations in a very competitivemarket.Further ReadingColeman, Bob, and Logan Shrine. Losing Faith: How the Grove SurvivorsLed the Decline of Intel’s Corporate Culture. 2007.Colwell, Robert P. The Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, andPolitics Behind Intel’s Landmark Chips. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley,2006.Grove, Andrew S. Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit theCrisis Points That Challenge Every Company. New York: Dell,1996.Intel Corporation. Available online. URL: http://www.intel.com.Accessed September 23, 2007.intellectual property and computingIntellectual property can be defined as the rights the creatorof an original work (such as an invention or a book)has to control its reproduction or use. Developers of newcomputer hardware, software, and media content must beable to realize a return on their time and effort. This returnis threatened by the ease with which programs and data ondisks can be illicitly copied and redistributed. Several legalmechanisms can be used to deter such behavior.Legal Protection MechanismsIntellectual property represented by the design of new hardwarecan be protected through the patent system. A patentgives the inventor the exclusive right to sell or license theinvention for 20 years after the date of filing. The basicrequirements for a device to be patentable are that it representsan actual physical device or process and that it besufficiently original and useful. A mere idea for a device,a mathematical formula, or a law of nature is not patentablein itself. In computing, a patent can be given for anactual physical device that meets the originality and usefulnessrequirements. Software that works with that device tocontrol a physical process can be part of the patent, but analgorithm is not patentable by itself.In practice, however, the situation is much murkierand more problematic. Patents are viewed as a key strategicresource (and financial asset) by companies such asIBM (which holds 40,000 patents and earns $1 billion ayear by licensing them), and in the decade between 1995and 2005 the annual number of patent applications filedrose 73 percent to 409,532. This has led to a considerablebacklog in the Patent Office, and critics suggest that manypatents are granted without being properly examined,such as for the existence of “prior art” (previous uses ofsimilar technology).Large companies often complain that so-called patenttrollers obtain patents that may be relevant enough to causeinfringement or invalidate a later patent, and then threatenthe company with litigation if they are not paid. (Smallpatent holders in turn complain that large companies sometimesignore or underpay them because they assume thatthe patent holder cannot afford litigation.) Many companies,including eBay, Research in Motion (maker of theBlackberry PDA), and Microsoft have been embroiled inpatent suits.Major computer companies such as Google, IBM, andApple are supporting the Patent Reform Act of 2007. Thelaw would tighten the standards for getting a patent andmake it easier to challenge the patent later.As of mid-2008 the bill remained stalled in the Senate.Meanwhile, a federal court had overturned new patent regulationsthat sought to streamline the application processby reducing the amount of supporting materials submitted.Because of these restrictions, most software is protectedby copyright rather than by patent. A computer program isconsidered to be a written work akin to a book. (After all,a computer program can be thought of as a special type ofnarrative description of a process. When compiled into executablecode and run on a suitable computer, a program hasthe ability to physically carry out the process it describes.)Like other written works, a program has to be sufficientlyoriginal. Once copyrighted, protection lasts for thelife of the author (programmer) plus 70 years. (Works madefor hire are covered for 95 years from first publication or120 years from creation.) Given the pace of change in computing,such terms are close to “forever.” While not strictlynecessary, registration of the work with the U.S. CopyrightOffice and the inclusion of a copyright statement serve aseffective legal notice and prevent infringers from claimingthat they did not know the work was copyrighted.Content (that is, text or multimedia materials) presentedin a computer medium can be copyrighted in the same wayas its traditional printed counterpart. However, in 1996 theU.S. Supreme Court declared that a program’s user interfaceas such could not be copyrighted (see Lotus DevelopmentCorp. v. Borland International, U.S. 94-2003).Computer programs have also received protectionas trade secrets. Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, asadopted in many states, a program can be considered atrade secret if gaining economic value from it depends upon