Mr. Rens is the Legal Lead for Creative Commons South Africa, and currently resides in San Francisco where he works on issues around access to knowledge, collaborative creative works and the Digital Divide.

This module explains how to author Connexions modules that are related to the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA). It covers adding metadata, making links, and creating exercises. It also provides style tips and explains how Connexions handles intellectual property. "Authoring TIMEA Modules" is part 3 of a 5-part course that helps instructors use TIMEA materials and trains authors to develop new modules and courses using Connexions.

Law, in its simplest form, is used to protect one party from another. For instance, laws protect customers from being exploited by companies. Laws protect companies from other companies. Laws even protect citizens and corporations from the government. However, law is neither perfect nor all encompassing. This course will introduce the student to the laws and ethical standards that managers must abide by in the course of conducting business. Laws and ethics almost always shape a company's decision-making process; a bank cannot charge any interest rate it wants to charge that rate must be appropriate. By the end of this course, the student will have a clear understanding of the legal and ethical environment in which businesses operate. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify sources of law in the United States; Describe the function and role of courts in the US legal system; Differentiate litigation from methods of alternative dispute resolution; List the elements of the major torts; List the essential elements of a valid contract; Describe how a contract can fail; Summarize the remedies available for breach of contract; Distinguish between real and personal property; Identify the various interests in real property and how they pass; Identify the requirements to hold various rights under intellectual property laws; Analyze the impact of the digital era on intellectual property rights; Distinguish between at-will employment and contractual employment; Identify laws that generally regulate the employer-employee relationship; Identify criminal acts related to the business world; Define white collar crime; Describe the various forms of business organization; Identify the major laws regulating business in the United States; Identify major ethical concerns in business today. (Business Administration 205)

As its name suggests, a business method patent grants to its holder exclusive rights to a particular way of doing business. Until recently, it was widely assumed that business methods were not patentable due to the judicially created "business methods exception" to patentability. As a result, firms enjoyed only limited intellectual property protection against imitation of their business strategies by competitors. To the extent that they managed keep their strategies secret, they could rely on trade secret protection, which prevents competitors from using trade secrets obtained by "improper means." In practice, however, most business strategies could not be effectively concealed, and competitors were thus free to mimic them. The 1998 decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., 149 F.3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. 1998) altered this situation dramatically. The Court did away with the "business methods exception" to patentability and upheld a patent on a software program that was used to make mutual-fund asset allocation calculations. In the wake of that decision, companies have been seeking -- and obtaining -- business method patents at a remarkable pace. It is difficult to determine exactly how many business method patents have been issued, however, as such patents can be classified in a number of different ways. Generally, patent class 705 -- which covers, in part, data processing for business practice -- is considered a good proxy for business method patents, as the majority of such patents are filed under this category (and especially given that methods of doing business online tend fall under this category).[1] The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reports that, in 1998, there were 1340 class 705 patent applications, and 420 such patents were issued. In 2000, applications for business method patents rose dramatically to 7800, with 899 such patents issued. In 2001, applications increased again (8700), but the number of issued patents decreased sharply (433), probably as a result of the USPTO's heightened attention to the "quality" of business method patents. Over the last few years, this trend has continued, with about 6300 class 705 applications each year, and only 500 or so issued annually. Since a large percentage of those patents involve methods of doing business online, they merit our attention. The frenzy over business method patents is by no means confined to the United States. Both the European and Japanese Patent Offices, which together with the United States cover 83% of all patents worldwide as of 2000, similarly recognize some form of the business method patent. However, while the Japanese have embraced the concept (albeit with stricter patentability standards), there remains a strong movement within Europe to reverse earlier policy decisions and eliminate business method patents altogether. Many other countries are in the process of forming their policy toward this new category of patents. Meanwhile, controversy over business method patents in the United States has begun to die down; while the process for obtaining a business method patent was recently made more rigorous, legislative challenges to the availability of such patents have proved unsuccessful. In sum, business method patents are here to stay (at least in the United States), but their availability or character may continue to change.

The objective of Code v1 and Code v2 is to introduce and defend a particular way of understanding regulation, and to describe the trend that we should expect regulation in cyberspace to take.

While Lawrence Lessig himself has strong views about preserving important liberties that cyberspace originally protected, this book does not push any particular set of values. Unlike Lessig's other books, The Future of Ideas, and Free Culture, this book has no particular political agenda.

To a significant extent, copyright law governs the production, dissemination and consumption of knowledge and culture. In an "information society" it is particularly important to ensure that the gates of learning are kept wide open. It is in this context that an examination of copyright law with respect to education becomes crucial. When performing an audit of copyright law, it is essential to keep in mind international treaty obligations: particularly, the Berne Convention, the Agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights -- which is consequent to membership at the World Trade Organisation, and more recent treaties such as the World Intellectual Property Organization's Copyright Treaty. Taken together, they define the international copyright regime. It is also essential to keep in mind that even from the perspective of the multifaceted international obligations that countries are subject to, there is yet great flexibility as to how copyright may be legislated, especially given national goals such as literacy and education. This last point is, unfortunately, not yet adequately known. The following copyright law checklist is an attempt at gaining a better understanding of not only how intellectual property affects education but also what countries have within their power to do, to increase access to education of quality at all levels.

This course provides an introduction to the technology and policy context of public communications networks, through critical discussion of current issues in communications policy and their historical roots. The course focuses on underlying rationales and models for government involvement and the complex dynamics introduced by co-evolving technologies, industry structure, and public policy objectives. Cases drawn from cellular, fixed-line, and Internet applications include evolution of spectrum policy and current proposals for reform; the migration to broadband and implications for universal service policies; and property rights associated with digital content. The course lays a foundation for thesis research in this domain.

Course prepares you to advise clients or your own organization on the design of contracts and screening policies when one of the parties has an information advantage over the other. For example, students study the design of patent licenses (the licensor knows more about the market), the design of social systems to reduce spam (the spam sender knows more about the content before the recipient decides whether to read), and the design of performance contracts for professional services (e.g., consultants, contract programmers, etc., when the contractor knows more than the employer about her level of effort). This course follows SI 646.

This program contains resources for educators on copyright laws in South Africa particularly educators in higher education This program is intended to assist educators in their awareness of copyright laws Included in the program is a copyright timeline as well as an infographic There is also a guide which discusses the implications for both copyright holder and user and the use of copyrighted materials in an educational setting Lastly it advises on where to obtain copyright permissions and provides some tips for good practice This is a work in progress and I will updating this resource regularly Please note that to view this resource you will need to have the latest version of Shockwave player installed

This series of three modules (subsequent modules are linked at the bottom of this page) is intended to provide an overview of U.S. Copyright Law, both as it is written in law and as it functions in the courts. The evolution of copyright law in response to new technologies, the specifics of U.S. Copyright Law, and significant copyright court cases are all discussed. This first module is a basic overview of U.S. Copyright Law: what it is, the types of works it covers, and the protections it guarantees creators.

This course is for educators and learners who wants to understand how copyright affects use of learning materials, and how to use copyright to facilitate education. The course is focused on developing practical solutions. The reading won't always give these to you, its up to you to devise practical solutions based on the reading.

This is a course for educators who want to learn about copyright, open content material and licensing. It is open to all educators around the world.

The course is taught around practical case studies faced by teachers when using copyright material in their day to day teaching and educational instruction.

This semester, we will explore the nuts and bolts of advising and defending Internet-related businesses, organizations and individuals. With the help of practicing cyberlawyers and other outside participants, we will delve into some of the most contested issues involving intellectual property, speech, and privacy on the Net, and the means by which courts and legislatures are asked to take sides and, at times, affect the course of the Internet's evolution.

The Copyright Crash Course provides information about how ownership of copyrighted materials works, what is fair use, and when and how to get permission to use someone else's materials. It focuses on copyright issues pertaining to both text and multimedia resources. The site also offers an interactive online tutorial and links to a multitude of additional resources regarding copyright law and fair use practices.

This is a high resolution infographic detailing the basics of Creative Commons licenses it explains the 4 main terms of these licenses and maps the licenses from the most accommodating to the most restrictive While this poster is licensed under a Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike license Non Commercial as it pertains to this infographic is meant to exclude instances of cost recovery and use by notforprofits

In this lesson, students will begin to explore the often-perplexing world of copyrights by defining the essential elements of U.S. copyright law. Beginning with the Copy Quiz game and a free-form class discussion, students will tease out collective and individual ideas about the rights of creators and users. Then students will be asked to reflect on their experiences making and using creative works online and write down the questions that they want answered by the end of the unit.

As markets or production bases, China and India are becoming important and integral players in the global economy. Foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investments and outsourcing businesses have increased dramatically in these two economies. Despite the rising importance of these two economies on the world stage, our knowledge and analysis of these two countries in an integrated manner has remained poor. The two are often lumped together by business analysts as "emerging markets," despite the substantial differences in their political systems, reform policies and business organizations. Academics, in contrast, have tended to treat two countries separately, preferring to specialize in issues and questions specific to one or the other country. The purpose of this course is to analyze these two countries within a coherent analytical framework. Our learning model is inductive, and heavily based on class discussions and participation. The group projects should aim at integrating analysis, knowledge and understanding of these two countries. We will also experiment with other forms of group projects, such as creating and working on business plans and those projects that integrate research from field trips with more traditional research, such as library research.

Science and technology of Republican China (1912-1949) often replicated the West in all hierarchies. However, in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) declared the nation the People's Republic of China, it had assumed Soviet pseudo-science, namely neo-Lamarckian and anti-Mendelian Lysenkoism, which led to intense propaganda campaigns that victimized intellectuals and natural scientists. Not until the 1956 Double Hundred Campaign had China engaging in meaningful exploration into modern genetics with advancements of Morgan. The CCP encouraged discussions on the impact of Lysenkoism which cultivated guidelines to move science for-ward. However, Mao ended the campaign by asserting the Anti-Rightist Movement (1957) that reinstated the persecution of intellectuals, for he believed they did not contribute to his socialist ethos of the working people. The Great Leap Forward (1958-1959), an idealist and unrealistic attempt to rapidly industrialize the nation, and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a grand at-tempt to rid China of the "technological elite," extended China's lost years to a staggering two decades.

I developed this module as a case study for my course, "Intellectual Property:" Copyright for Educators, EDIT797" offered at George Mason University. The events described in the module actually happened. It is provided here as an example reflecting how issues of "copy rights" pervade the educator's roles in creating, distributing, using, and managing electronic intellectual properties.