Session Protecting your IP: Copyright, Trademarks, Software Patents Kaj Arnö Track: General Date: Thursday, April 21 Time: 2:20pm - 3:05pm Location: Ballroom E TrackBack The current mainstream thinking lumps together copyrights, software patents, and trademarks as "intellectual property," although they have a different legal backgrounds and serve different purposes. Arnö shows which ones serve the interest of society at large. Specific topics include: GENERAL show that "Intellectual Property" is a misnomer, i.e. that you shouldn't bunch together SWPATs, Copyright and Trademark to begin with call people to action to protect their rights SWPATs show that SWPATs are not *software* patents but *idea* patents explain the current status of SWPATs in Europe explain the current status of SWPATs in the US explain why SWPATs suck show that most companies, except the largest players, need protection by society against the adverse affects of SWPATs COPYRIGHT explain the basic legal structures for laypeople show why copyright is necessary, and protects the developer TRADEMARK explain the basic legal structures for laypeople show why trademarks are necessary, and protects the owner

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