Technical Writing Notes #4

2-27-09

Intellectual Property • • • • • • • • •

Designs for products appearance Literature, art, and music Trademarks from brand identity Inventions Trade secrets Performer’s rights Conditional access technology New plant varieties Etc

How do I get a copyright? • • •

A copyright exists from the moment the work is created in a fixed, tangible form of expression Although registering a copyright is not necessary to securing one, it is a legal formality to create a public record Copyrights give the creator full rights and financial benefits to reproduction, performance, distribution, and display of the work

Copyright Act of 1790 • • •

Created to encourage scientists, authors, and artists to create original works Provided monopoly to creator for 14 years, later changed to 18 years In 1976, copyright laws were extended to unpublished works and for the first time took into account how technological advancements could affect copyrights

Boiler plating • • • •

Refers to a portion of text that can be reused without being changed much, if at all, from the original These “printing plates” were used by the printing press for mass reproduction Another form is the “boiler”, a short blurb that describes a company or product Most frequently used in programming languages

Miscellaneous

• • • •

At one time copyrights did not exist Spoken word did not cite sources—still doesn’t Epithets Homeostasis

Technology’s Impact • • •

The internet makes it difficult to verify the authorship and authenticity of a document. HTML code is copied and pasted by programmers and web designers everyday Entire published novels are reproduced on the web without the writers knowledge