Learning outcomes

The software is the center of the economic and innovative fabric. The aim of the course is that students can understand the legal implications in the use of software and information systems, as well as understand the rights that arise from the creation of original software. The course therefore aims to introduce the problems that arise at the intersection between information technology and law, also in order to help students to be aware that, in the world of work, the knowledge of the existence of legal rules could determine the success of the their business. In particular, the study will start from the analysis of the protection of software in Europe between patenting and copyright. Brief notes on sw protection in common law countries. Subsequently, the articles of the law on copyright relating to the rights of economic exploitation of intellectual property will be examined (as well as the prohibitions that the code places in the exploitation of the works of others) and subsequently, the articles of the LDA expressly prepared for the protection of the SW (including all problems relating to the inventions of employees, researchers, directors of joint stock companies, shareholders' agreements). The legal rules governing some IT contracts, in particular software licenses, will then be analyzed, paying particular attention to the new legal regimes of digital content: open source and creative commons. Examples will be provided on the legal protection of apps and multimedia works between copyright and industrial law (trademarks / design / SIAE). Finally, the course will end with a brief mention of artificial intelligence software: in relation to the nature and quality of software as a product.

Program

1) General framework of the subject. What is copyright, what is industrial law. Legal notion of computer program as intellectual creation and intangible law. Works protected by the LDA (copyright law) inventions protected by the CPI (industrial property code. SW framework between copyright and industrial protection. Solutions adopted at the EU and EXTRA EU licenses.
2) The SW protected by the LDA. In general, the rights arising from the works protected by the LDA. Sources of law. Moral rights / property rights. In particular, study of the articles of the LDA relating to software (art. 1, 2, 12 and 64 bis et seq. LDA).
3) Continued from previous lesson. SW created by the employee / SW created by the administrative body / SW created by the shareholder of a joint stock company. Advertising - news: SIAE and public register sw - Copyright Office Washington. Further Open Issues. The legal protection of the programming language.
4) Contracts relating to the transfer of copyright on sw (license; development) The proprietary sw, the free sw, the open source sw. The protection of the app.
5) The patentable SW. Sources of law. Open legal issues. The protection of the algorithm.
Concept of industrial invention; the classification of inventions; patentability and non-patentable material requirements; Announcements; priority; inventive step; industrial application; Lawfulness.
6) The Patent: summary; Description; drawings; claims; duration. Italian Patent and European Patent (notes). Territoriality; Exhaustion.
7) Follows: The industrial protection of the sw. The rights arising from the patent (moral rights; patrimonial rights). Inventions by employees; Inventions by University researchers and public research bodies; Inventions of the self-employed.
8) Continued from previous lesson. Patent of product, process; of method and "technical means that implements a method"; software patents such as computer implemented inventions and computer-related inventions.
9) Practical cases relating to software patenting.
10) Biotechnological Inventions
11) The protection of the software as an industrial secret
12) Artificial intelligence. Notes. Defective Product Liability. Open issues for example: the legal protection of the work that can be protected by copyright created by artificial intelligence systems; the legal protection of inventions created by artificial intelligence systems. The new European directives relating to AI.

METHOD OF DELIVERY OF THE TEACHING
The lessons, in compliance with the University guidelines, will be held in the presence and usable by the students, even remotely, via link zoom. The recording of each lesson will also be published on the course's moodle page.

Examination Methods