Protection of Intellectual PropertyIntroductionThere are many controversies regarding intellectual property and its application to software. Many difficult and fundamental questions arise, such as exactly which aspects of software should be protected by copyright or by a patent. [5] Although the application of existing laws to software is not very straightforward, some form of legal protection of intellectual property is necessary, as it brings a significant number of positive results, which will be described in more detail in This item. We will argue that legal protection of intellectual property is an ethical obligation arising from a utilitarian ethical framework because it promotes innovation and economic growth to increase the utility of software, resulting in the greatest net happiness for society . Facts and Background Intellectual property has traditionally been protected by law in different ways, the two most notable being copyright and patents. A copyright “protects an original work in the tangible and fixed form in which it was fixed. It only protects the expression of the work, not the idea behind it. [6] Unfortunately, this rule is somewhat vague when applied to software because there are no clear definitions of what in software constitutes "expression" of the work versus the idea behind the work, and also because the legal community largely lacks technical knowledge. knowledge of software and programming. [6] For this reason, patenting, as opposed to copyright, is becoming increasingly popular among software developers who wish to protect their intellectual property, due to the fact that patents protect both the physical product and the paper. .....July 25, 2014].2. United States Patent and Trademark Office. “General information regarding patents”. Internet: http://www.uspto.gov/patents/resources/general_info_concerning_patents.pdf, November 2011 [April 25, 2014].3. James Boyle. “What Intellectual Property Law Should Learn from Software.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 52, pp. 71-76, September 2009.4. International Chamber of Commerce, “Intellectual Property: Driving Innovation and Economic Growth,” in 6th World Congress on Counterfeiting and Piracy, 2011, pp. 3-14.5. Pamela Samuelson. “Intellectual property in the information age: introduction.” Communications of the ACM, vol. 44, p. 66-68, February 2001.6. Harvard University Technology Development Office. “Copyright Software Vs. Patent software. Internet: http://otd.harvard.edu/inventions/ip/software/compare/ [May 3, 2014].