Chapter 6


Questions to consider


1. Is the RIAA’s strong stand on copyright infringement helping or hurting the music recording industry?


ANSWER : I think RIAA's stand on copyright infringement helps the music industry, for RIAA only protects the value of creative work. When you make unauthorized copies of someone’s creative work, you are taking something of value from the owner without his or her permission and that i think is punishable. 


2.  Could an ISP’s implementation and enforcement of the RIAA’s multitier strategy have a negative impact on the ISP?




ANSWER : During a panel discussion held for US publishers this week, RIAA chairman Cary Sherman said his association and a number of ISPs—including AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon—will begin policing traffic to crack down on piracy starting this summer.


The deal is not new—the RIAA and the participating ISPs came to this agreement last June. But it has taken time to implement. According to CNET, Sherman explained that "each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system." He gave July 12 as the "start date" for the traffic monitoring to start.


The system involves major labels monitoring BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks for copyright infringement, and then reporting that infringement to ISPs, who will monitor their networks for the transgressors.


Then, the ISPs will send goon squads out to capture transgressors and bring them back to the compound for “re-education.”


LINK : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/riaa-and-isps-to-police-your-traffic-starting-july-12/


Lotus vs Borland


Discussion questions


1. Go to your school’s computer lab or a PC software store and experiment with current versions of any two of the Quattro, Excel, or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet programs.  Write a brief paragraph summarizing the similarities and differences in the “look and feel” of these two programs.

ANSWER :  Graphs in a spreadsheet program such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro are similar to what we call graphs in math class. In Microsoft Excel they called charts.
Graphs then, are visual representations of worksheet data. Graphs often makes it easier to understand the data in a worksheet because users can easily pick out patterns and trends illustrated in the graph that are otherwise difficult to see.




2. The courts took several years to reverse their initial decision and rule in favor of Borland.  What impact did this delay have on the software industry?  How might things have been different if Borland had received an initial favorable ruling?




ANSWER : The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit released its long-awaited decision in Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc., No. 93-2214 (1st Cir. Mar. 9, 1995), reversing a series of district court decisions that had found Borland liable for copyright infringement.


On appeal, Borland does not dispute that it factually copied the words and arrangement of the Lotus menu command hierarchy. Rather, Borland argues that it “lawfully copied the unprotectable menus of Lotus 1-2-3.” Borland contends that the Lotus menu command hierarchy is not copyrightable because it is a system, method of operation, process, or procedure foreclosed from protection by 17 U.S.C. Section 102(b). Borland also raises a number of affirmative defenses.


3. Assume that you are the manager of Borland’s software development.  With the benefit of hindsight, what different decisions would you have made about Quattro?




ANSWER: I think the best thing to do is to resign.