The Research On Intellectual Property Rights Protection Of Software

On the basis of the history, practice and model of software intellectual property rights, this dissertation explores the feasibility of studying IPR with economic method in software industry. Then we discuss and compare various IPR institutions of software with economic models. This part ulteriorly elucidates the concrete copyright institution and patent institution of software protection separately. In the analysis of copyright institution of software protection, this part discusses the relationship between cumulative innovation and copyright protection. In the analysis of patent institution of software protection, this part discusses the relationship between duration policy and patent protection. Respectively, we consider the models of software protection and suitable institution in the case of different conditions. Further more, this part probes into the problem of software protection problem in the TRIPS Agreement with the international angle of view. Finally, we put forward some ideas with software protection policy in China.Chapter two is about the history, practice and model of software intellectual property rights. Firstly, this part describes the conceptions and juristic characteristics, and discusses the historic course of software IPRP. This part illustrates the legal practice activity of software IPRP with the cases of US, Japan, EU and Taiwan Province. Further more this part compares the differences, advantages and disadvantages of various institutions including copyright, patent, sui generis and trade secret law.The purpose of chapter three is lying on the review of economics theory literature on the software intellectual property rights institutions. First on the basis of generalizing the economic characteristics, this part studies the two principle of software protection: insentive of innovation and disclosure of information. And then it focuses on and studies the prime reason of software IPRP, that is software piracy, with the theoretical and positive ways. And this part continues with the study of concrete forms of software protection. Last on the basis of this reviewing above literature, this part conceives the theoretical model and compares the copyright protection and patent protection from the innovation volume, innovation profit and social welfare.Based on the preceding chapters, the next two chapters discuss the copyright and patent separately. The fourth chapter is a theoretical analysis of software copyright protection. This part breaks through original framework of isolated innovation and introduces auction model in the framework of culmulative innovation. It probes into the welfare effect of intellectual property rights and compares the efficiency of various concrete institutions, also discusses the application in certain special industries by developing an auction model in the cumulative innovation. We study firms' innovation race in cumulative innovation with leader firm, and then obtain the social welfare function of three strategies and optimal intellectual property rights protection. Ultimately we draw the conclusion that industries such as computer software, music, book and journal are suitable for the broad institution-the copyright.The fifth chapter is a theoretical analysis of software patent protection. Along with the analysis of Gilbert and Shapiro (1990), this paper applies the model of discounted social welfare to study the optimal patent life of software with two new variables: probability of successful innovationηx and innovation efficiencyh. The conclusions show that on the condition of given rate of return, the effect of given patent life would be different for the different industry with different investment risk and probability of successful innovation; With the increase of innovation efficiency of the industry, the optimal patent life would increase to the maximum, then begin to decrease, therefore it is necessary to set the different patent life and give the different patent life and give the different patent protection according to the basic characteristic of the certain industry, that is the value of innovation efficiency. Finally, this part develops the positive model on the basis of the sectional data of cities, with the conclusion that R&D expenditures of firms and scales of sales have obvious effect on the volume of patent applied, while profits of firms have unobvious effect on the volume of patent applied The sixth chapter focuses on the TRIPS Agreement, which increases the IPRP of whole world. Based on the introduction of the formation, clauses and economics signification of TRIPS, it analyses the effect of TRIPS with model. Then thinking over the network externality in software industry, we set forth bilateral negotiation protection mechanism, which can optimize the global social welfare comparing with the TRIPS mechanism. Ultimately, this part gets the protection tactic of southern country and northern country.Chapter seven describes the legal evolution, performance of copyright registered and patent applied. Based on this, we set forth an integrated and crossed protection system with various laws.In a word, this dissertation explores the software IPRP institution and analyses the problems of copyright protection, patent protection and international protection from the angle of law and economics. This dissertation provides a further understanding of software IPRP and puts forward some referenced ideas for the software IPRP in China.