Professional

Practices
WEEK - 7
Recap

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

Course Outline
Introduction
Ethics and Codes of Conduct
Structure of Organization (Software House)
Financial Practices
Human Resource Management
Intellectual Property
Cyber law
Software Related Contracts
Social Networking Responsibilities and Ethics
Information Security and Privacy
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI
 INTRODUCTION
Intellectual property rights are often the most valuable assets owned, used and
developed by anyone, including, software house.
IPR is a broad categorical description for the set of intangible assets owned and
legally protected by a company or individual from outside use or implementation
without consent. An intangible asset is a non-physical asset that a company or
person owns.
• The concept of intellectual property relates to the fact that certain products of human
intellect should be afforded the same protective rights that apply to physical property,
which are called tangible assets. So one have legal measures in place to protect both
forms of property.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

INTRODUCTION
Intellectual Property rights grants exclusive rights to an owner or
author for utilizing and benefiting from their creation.
They protect information stored by electronic means and all of the
paperwork which accompanies a program, such as user manual, plus
any multimedia packages and most items on the Web.
Great care should be taken to protect, exploit and enforce intellectual
property

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

INTRODUCTION(cont…)
IP Rights have many forms, some of these are:
• The name under which a product is sold maybe registered as a trademark.
• The hardware or a process used in its manufacture maybe protected by a
patent.
• The look of the product maybe registered in the Design Registry
• Software and Algorithms can be protected by Copyright.
• A process, formula or practice that is not public information, which provides an
economic benefit or advantage to the company or holder may be protected as
Trade Secrets

IP Right Types

Trade-
Patents Copyrights Trademarks Design
secrets

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

INTRODUCTION(cont…)
Unauthorized use of intellectual property can be stopped by injunction
and damages may be sought for infringement of these rights.
The law is constantly changing with technological advance
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)(in Europe)concerned
the protection of intellectual property rights in the face of widespread
piracy of software products.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

PATENTS
A government authority conferring a right or title for a set period,
especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling
an invention
A patent gives to an inventor IP rights for that invention. This means
that the inventor is given the exclusive right to use or exploit the
invention for a defined period.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

PATENTS
The rights granted by patent law are so strong, that the owner of a
patent may even exclude independent inventors from the market
The better the patent and the more commercially desirable the
breakthrough, the more likely it is to be challenged.
• For example, if competitors can produce a similar product or process, which
is not covered by the patent, they will be free to market it and to erode the
commercial advantage of the patentee. If they can prove that the subject
matter of the patent has been used or disclosed before, they can invalidate
the patent.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

PATENTS
Patent Act merely sets out a number of criteria which must be satisfied
before an invention can be patented
A patent may only be granted if:
• the invention is new
• It involves an inventive step
• It is capable of industrial application
• The subject matter of the invention does not fall within an excluded
class.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

PATENTS
• IPO - Pakistan

• USPTO - US

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

PATENTS
• USPTO – US
– Sample Patent Document

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

TRADE SECRETS
A trade secret (or Confidential Information) is information that gives a
company or business a competitive advantage over others in the field. It
may be a formula, a design process, or a device.
• “The formula for making Coca-Cola is a trade secret. We have protected the
special taste of Coca-Cola for more than 130 years. Only The Coca-Cola
Company knows how to make Coca-Cola.”

Trade secrets have an indefinite life of protection as long as the secrets

are not revealed.
• Under the current provisions of the Trademarks Act, sounds are registrable
as trademarks in the same way that logos, brand names, and other, non-
traditional marks like scents and textures are registrable. A number of
examples of sound marks are available on the US Patent and Trademark
Office website (USPTO).

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

TRADE SECRETS
As mentioned trade secret is a company's process or practice that is not
public information, which provides an economic benefit or advantage to
the company or holder of the trade secret.
Mostly in software industry, it is typically the result of a company's
research and development (R&D), which is why some employers require
the signing of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

TRADEMARKS
A trademark is a product or service-identifying label. It is a mark that
attempts to distinguish a service or a product in the minds of the
consumers. The label may be any word, name, picture, or symbol. It is
very well known that consumers tend to choose between products
through association with the product’s brand name. For example, the
Golden Arch is a trademark for McDonald’s restaurants.
There are many other fast-food restaurants (e.g., Burger King), but none
of them can use the Golden Arch as their trademark. The Golden Arch
differentiates McDonald’s from all other fast-food restaurants and may
give it an advantage over its competitors in the industry. Because
trademarks are used by consumers to choose among competing
products, they are vigorously protected by their owner.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

Trademarks
Categories of Trademarks

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

Categories of Trademarks
• Distinctiveness

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

Deceptive Trademarks
A deceptive trademark is a type of
trademark that is likely to mislead or
deceive consumers about the nature,
quality, or origin of the goods or
services being offered.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

COPYRIGHT
The exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print,
publish, perform material, and to authorize others to do the same.
Copyright protects more items generated by businesses or by
individuals than any other aspect of intellectual property law.
It can protect business letters, manuals, diagrams, computer programs.
Copyright owners face the specter of unlimited piracy through
uncontrolled copying with the advent of internet.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

COPYRIGHT
Internationally, copyright is a right, enforceable by law and accorded to
an inventor or creator of an expression. Such expressions may include
creative works (literary, dramatic, musical, pictorial, graphic, and artistic)
together with audiovisual and architectural works and sound recordings.
• Examples: A novel, Photograph, Software code for a programming tool or
software application, Database, etc.

When the copyright on a work expires ((1978 before -75Years) and (after
Author’s lifetime +50 Years)), that work goes into the public domain.
Works in public domain are not protected by the copyright law and can
be used by any member of the public without prior permission from the
owner of the work.
• A copyright notice consists of a copyright symbol denoted by ©, the word
“copyright,” the year the copyright was granted, and the name of the
copyright owner, for example, Copyright © 1995 John Mukasa.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

COPYRIGHT
What we will probably see over the next few years are stronger laws,
more rights for copyright owners , widespread licensing schemes and
greater use of technical anti-piracy or copy- monitoring devices and
electronic rights management systems

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

COPYRIGHT
Copyright law gives six exclusive rights to the owner of
copyright:
1. Copy the work
2. Issues copy to the public
3. Rent or lend the work to the public
4. Perform, play or show the work in public
5. Broadcast the work or include it in a cable programmed service
6. Make an adaptation of the work or to do any of the above with an
adaptation

The rights apply equally to published and to unpublished works

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

ACTS PERMITTED IN RELATION TO COPYRIGHT
Some acts are permitted under the 1988Act, even though they would
otherwise amount to breach of copyright.
1. Fair dealing(private study/research, criticism or review)
2. Making back-up copies of computer programs(copy a game license
not prohibited)
3. Transfers of works in electronic form(sale work to others)
4. De-compilation for the purpose of interoperability(new program can be
generated by old one eg: low level language to high level language))
5. Error correction
6. Databases

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

REMEDIES FOR BREACH OF COPYRIGHT
A copyright owner has all the usual civil remedies of search,
injunction, damages and an action for an account of profits made in
breach of copyright.

If it is shown that at the time of the infringement of copyright the

defendant did not know and had no reason to believe that copyright
subsisted in the work, then the plaintiff is not entitled to damages
against the defendant.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

REMEDIES FOR BREACH OF COPYRIGHT
A copyright owner is also given an important power to enter premises
without using force in order to seize infringing copies, or articles
specifically designed or adapted for making copies.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

IP Rights

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES BY DR. TAHA JILANI

INFRINGEMENT
An infringement is a violation, a breach, or an unauthorized act.
infringement
 DIRECT-Literal

A form of infringement
in which each and every
element recited in the
claim has an equivalent
component within the
allegedly infringing
device or process, etc.
 DIRECT-DOCTRINE OF
EQUIVALENCE
A form of infringement in
which the alleged infringing
invention correspondents
comparatively to the invention
and produces the same
results, although the device or
method may not exactly
infringe the patent.
Do you think it’s infringement?
 INDIRECT-CONTRIBUTORY

A form of infringement in
which an entity is not directly
violating a patent but, induces  Example: Selling components
or authorizes another person used exclusively to construct a
to directly infringe the patent. patented item.
 INDIRECT-INDUCEMENT

Inducement involves directing, advising or instructing another

party on how to infringe.
Example: Selling guides that contain instructions on assembling
a patented item (OR) Providing information on a
manufacturing process used to build patented devices.
 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
RIGHTS (IP) POLICY Pakistan
1.1 Intellectual Property laws of Pakistan include the copyright laws, patent laws
and trademark laws. This area of law protects the work of creative individuals
and businesses from unauthorized use or exploitation by third parties. By utilizing
Intellectual Property laws, creators and innovators can fully protect and benefit
from their creations.
1.5 Pakistan Penal Code provides punishment under sections 478 to 489 against
infringement of trade, property and other marks. This shows both international
and national ramification of IP laws. Owner of the exclusive licensee of copyrights
in case of an infringement, are entitled to all such remedies by way of injunction,
damages, accounts and otherwise as are conferred by law for the infringement of
a right. Similarly, the holder of a valid Patent in Pakistan shall have the right to
prevent the third parties, not having owner’s consent, from the acts of making,
using, offering for sale, selling, or importing and having the right to assign, or
transfer by succession, the patent and to conclude licensing contracts.
 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
RIGHTS (IP) POLICY Pakistan
1.6 The proprietor of a registered trademark shall also have exclusive rights in
the trademark. The infringement of the registered trademark shall entitle its
proprietor without prejudice to the rights to obtain any relief, by way of
damages, injunctions, accounts or otherwise as is available in respect of the
infringement of any other property right, under any law for the time being in
force, the proprietor shall also have the right to obtain relief under the
Ordinance if the trademark is infringed.

https://www.nu.edu.pk/OricResources/ResearchPolicies/Intellectual_Property_R
ights_IP_Policy.pdf
 Cyber-Squatting
Cybersquatting refers to the unauthorized registration and use of Internet domain
names that are identical or similar to trademarks, service marks, company names,
or personal names, with bad intention.
• Registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to
profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else.