- Posts: 13
- Joined: Jul 04, 2024
- Mon Aug 05, 2024 1:12 pm
#108092
Hi,
I may be just repeating other people's comments, but I found this question straightforward.
Paragraph 2 defines what patents and copyright protect: "Whereas patents protect the underlying design of an invention, even if it is never actually executed, copyright protects only the particular way in which the underlying ideas are expressed."
Paragraph 1 says that generic principles are not patentable: "On similar grounds, software algorithms, because they represent generic principles ... should not be considered patentable"
The definition of copyright proves the second half of answer A. Copyright protects only the way in which the ideas are expressed. Generic principles are an expression of ideas, but the way in which they are expressed is what the inventor is doing with them. It's not illegal to make your own soda brand; it's illegal to use the same recipe as Coca-Cola. The way in which they are expressed: the particular ingredients used in particular ways to create a drink, that is protected under copyright. But the underlying ideas (the properties of carbonated water and how mixing it with sugar creates soda) is not protected. Someone who is creating a soda brand other than Coca-Cola is using similar generic principles but would not be using them in the same way to create the same drink, hence Coca-Cola can't claim copyright. Generic principles are a tool that is used by everyone in the same field to create something that is an expression of ideas. In science, a lot of people use the scientific method, physicists use gravity, chemists use the properties of liquids and solids, biologists use evolutionary theories, etc. None of these theories would be protected if they were involved in a product. It's how, not what, that is protected under copyright.
I may be just repeating other people's comments, but I found this question straightforward.
Paragraph 2 defines what patents and copyright protect: "Whereas patents protect the underlying design of an invention, even if it is never actually executed, copyright protects only the particular way in which the underlying ideas are expressed."
Paragraph 1 says that generic principles are not patentable: "On similar grounds, software algorithms, because they represent generic principles ... should not be considered patentable"
The definition of copyright proves the second half of answer A. Copyright protects only the way in which the ideas are expressed. Generic principles are an expression of ideas, but the way in which they are expressed is what the inventor is doing with them. It's not illegal to make your own soda brand; it's illegal to use the same recipe as Coca-Cola. The way in which they are expressed: the particular ingredients used in particular ways to create a drink, that is protected under copyright. But the underlying ideas (the properties of carbonated water and how mixing it with sugar creates soda) is not protected. Someone who is creating a soda brand other than Coca-Cola is using similar generic principles but would not be using them in the same way to create the same drink, hence Coca-Cola can't claim copyright. Generic principles are a tool that is used by everyone in the same field to create something that is an expression of ideas. In science, a lot of people use the scientific method, physicists use gravity, chemists use the properties of liquids and solids, biologists use evolutionary theories, etc. None of these theories would be protected if they were involved in a product. It's how, not what, that is protected under copyright.