Intangible creative work, including music, stories and software
what is intellectual property
This business model turned piracy from a threat into profit by making legal access cheaper and easier.
What is streaming?
A web service that answer user queries very quickly
what is a search engine?
copying, modification, and sharing of software without restriction.
what is free software?
These protect inventions by giving inventors exclusive rights for a limited time.
What are patents
This doctrine permits the use of copyrighted work if it contributes to the creation of new work
What is Fair Use
This 1998 law makes it illegal to break digital locks, even for fair use or research.
What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)?
storing data that were computed or fetched from a distant or slow source
What is caching?
Richard Stallman introduced this which uses copyright law to keep software free
what is copyleft
These types of patents now cover things like encryption, e-commerce, and email delivery.
What are software patents
___ has made copyright infringement much easier and cheaper
What are digital technologies/technology
These built-in restrictions, such as activation codes, are meant to stop copying but often frustrate honest users.
What is Digital Rights Management (DRM)?
scans books covered by copyright, gives electronic copies to the libraries that provide the books, and displays excerpts (“snippets”) in response to searches
what is Google’s Library Project?
Operating system that was widely used by both tech savvy and non-tech savvy. Initially considered “cult software”
what is linux?
The 1981 Supreme Court decision said that while software alone isn’t patentable, software-based processes are.
What is Diamond v. Diehr
The US Copyright Office has upheld (so far) that copyright works must have a ______. This standard affects copyright for AI-produced work.
what is a human author
Under the Safe Harbor rule, sites like YouTube stay protected only if they do this when told about illegal uploads.
What is remove the infringing material?
Google’s project was _______ - it created somethingnew and socially valuable:
what is transformative
Millions of programmers can rapidly fix bugs and improve performance, Customizable to specific needs; encourages experimentation and creativity, Encourages community trust and transparency.
what are advantages of free software?
One effect of the America Invents Act was encouraging inventors to file earlier, creating a “first to file” system instead of this older approach.
What is first to invent
What did the first US copyright law, which was written in 1790, protect?
what are books, maps and charts?
In 2025, these two major studios sued Midjourney, claiming its AI violated copyright law by breaking access controls on movie images.
Who are Disney and Universal?
Argued that Google uses the content of the books to improve its search results,translations, and language analysis
what is Authors Guild??
Stallman argues _______ software is ethically wrong, as copyingdoesn’t deprive the creator of use.
what is proprietary?
In this 2025, the court ruled that the term “payment handler” lacked structural definition, warning that AI terms like model or classifier could be invalid in patents without algorithmic detail.
What is Fintiv v. PayPal?