Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property

            Intellectual property (IP) consists of art, books, films, formulas, inventions, music, and processes that are distinct and owned or created by a single person or group, and can be protected through copyright, patent, and trade secret laws. (Reynolds 220) The protection of the ownership of a corporation’s intellectual property is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the corporation’s legal team. 

Intellectual Property Right

            When a client purchases services from an engineering, technology, or construction company, it usually requires an agreement (or specific clause in a general agreement) between the client and the company to address the use of the IP from both the company and client. (Frey and Frazier) The client’s IP usually includes the definition, location, capacity, and type of facility being requested, which can be highly confidential. (Frey and Frazier) The company’s IP usually includes the company’s proprietary processes, designs, and technologies, as well as their operational means and methods for the engineering, procurement and construction of the requested facility. (Frey and Frazier) Specific legal language is agreed by the parties to ensure that the IP used by the company in the design of the facility, whether incorporated into the work product or not, always remains the possession of the company. (Frey and Frazier) The client will then get very specifically defined use of the work product prepared by the company with limited use for the specific project being developed, along with a “royalty free perpetual right to use such IP in the work product for the specified purpose only”.  (Frey and Frazier)

            The client often wants to own the work product (and related IP) and use the work product as the client see fits posing a problem for the company. The client’s argument is that they “paid” for the work product (and anything contained in it) and therefore they should own it and use it at their discretion. (Frey and Frazier) The company’s argument is that this would be like buying a car and then being able to build all the identical cars you want since you legitimately bought the rights to the car. The bottom line in all this is that good IP language keeps “honest clients honest” and that violations are hard to prove and challenging to identify unless a client blatantly reverse engineers and builds an  identical plant at a different location, a problem that has been seen overseas, but rarely in the North American market. (Frey, Frazier, and Reynolds 236) 

Intellectual Property in IT Businesses

            Similar concepts are seen in the IT field where ownership to software can become ambiguous.  Steam is known in the gaming industry as a leading game platform where users can purchase games, build libraries, and connect with friends. Under the End User License Agreement (EULA), games are sold through a “software license” where legislation is more like rental agreements. (Rouse) Users do not own the games they purchase, but instead own a copy of the final product where steam has been known to revoke product rights in certain circumstances. (Walker)

Works Cited

Reynolds, George Walter. Ethics in Information Technology. 5th ed., Cengage, 2019.

Frey, Eric. Personal Interview. 4/14/2019

Frazier, Tetyana. Personal Interview. 4/14/2019

Walker, John. “Do We Own Our Steam Games?” Kotaku, Kotaku, 19 June 2013, kotaku.com/do-we-own-our-steam-games-5883435.

Rouse, Margaret, et al. “What Is End User License Agreement (EULA)? - Definition from WhatIs.com.” SearchCIO, searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/End-User-License-Agreement.