Browsing by Author "Tantarimäki, Maria"

The thesis considers the intellectual property protection of software in Europe and in the US, which is increasingly important subject as the world is globalizing and digitalizing. The special nature of software has challenges the intellectual property rights. The current protection of software is based on copyright protection but in this thesis, two other options are considered: software patents and open source software. Software patents provide strong protection for software whereas the purpose of the open source licensing is to weaken the protection of software to release it to the free use. These two mechanisms are almost opposites and have been under heated conversation in the past decade. The aim of the thesis is to consider which would be the better protection method for software in the future, software patents or the use of the open source licensing. Software patents are hardly new legal instruments to protect software. Actually, the first form of protection for software was patent. After personal computers were introduced in the 1970s, the patenting of software was not reasonable and the copyright protection of software emerged. However, patents are effective instruments to protect innovations like software and in past decades software patents have started to emerge again, especially in the US. At the European level, software patents have been considered but high risks relating to them have been recognized as well. Software patents may potentially hinder innovations by creating pitfalls for programmers; lead to monopolies; jeopardize open source software; and lead to problems when too many patent rights are granted to too many actors would threaten the innovation and development of software. Unlike software patents, open source software is based on the idea that software should be available for everyone to use, copy, modify and distribute. Open source licensing is a relatively new idea, it has existed only a few decades. The open source software license is based on the copyright law which determines the relationship between the copyright holder and the users. The license terms determine how the user can use the open source software. The most usual open source software licenses can be categorized as free-for-all, keep-open and share-alike licenses. Open source software for example has an increasingly important role when developing cloud based business models, big data, OS alternatives and the Internet of Things. Both software patents and open source software have its potential and weaknesses. One of the problems is that these to increasingly common mechanisms are partly incompatible. The challenging task is to determine the degree and method of the protection for software and at the same time preserve competition and the creation of new innovations.