Chapter 6: Vignette and Case Study

Vignette: RIAA Fights Music Piracy

1. Is the RIAA’s strong stand on copyright infringement helping or hurting the music recording industry?

             The RIAA justifies its strong antipiracy efforts as means of both protecting the ability of the recording industry to invest in new artists and new music, and giving legitimate online music sharing services a chance to be successful. That’s why RIAA’s strong stand on copyright infringement was very helpful to the music recording industry. They are so rigid about copyright infringement issues because even a small carelessness leads to breakdown of the industry. It also helps to change the habit of some of us, to plagiarize materials that are illegitimate. Also, when a strong stand brings to success it maybe probably increases the gains of the said industry. But it may also take to the negative side, people who are fun of copying or downloading music through the Internet might get discouraged and no longer interested in music because if the only way to have it, is to pay for it. 

2. Could an ISP’s implementation and enforcement of the RIAA’s multitier strategy have a negative impact on the ISP?

          Yes, well definitely yes. I think so, when ISP’s implement and reinforce the RIAA’s multitier strategy bear a negative impact on their part. It is stated to the RIAA program that the RIAA will alert participating Internet service providers to what it believes to be illegal downloading activities by ISP customers. Also, the ISP will either forward RIAA copyright infringement notices to its subscribers or notify its customers about the notices and ask them to cease and desist. As well as the ISP can take a series of escalating sanctions against repeat offenders, ranging from slowing down the subscriber’s network speed to terminating service. Furthermore, the RIAA reserves the right to sue flagrant copyright offenders. Because in this multitier strategy articulate in their program, the ISP greatly affected by this movement. When these strategies put into actions, customers might be afraid of doing that might harm them. The visitors of the ISP might decrease in number which is not a good idea.  

Case Study # 3: Lotus v. Borland

1. Go to your school’s computer lab or a PC software store and experiment with current versions of any two of the Quattro, Excel, or Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet programs. Write a brief paragraph summarizing the similarities and differences in the “look and feel” of these two programs.


The General Differences:
       Select first, and then choose a command     In Lotus 1-2-3, you choose a command and then specify a range that the command will affect. In Excel, you select the cell, range, or object you want to work with and then choose a command to perform an action. For example, if you want to format a range of cells, select the cells and then click Cells on the Format menu.
         Keys for moving around a worksheet     The navigation keys you use to move around a worksheet differ between Excel and Lotus 1-2-3. For example, if you press the HOME key in Lotus 1-2-3, the cell in the upper-left corner of the worksheet is selected; in Excel, the first cell of the current row is selected. You can change the navigation keys in Excel to move around the worksheet in the same way as Lotus 1-2-3.
        Parsing text from one column to several     In Lotus 1-2-3, you use the Parse command to separate text strings in one column across several columns. When you open a text file in Excel, the Text Import Wizard will assist you in parsing the data into columns. If you need to parse data in one column across several columns on the worksheet, use the Text to Columns command (Data menu).
            Macros     Excel 2000 and later versions of Excel do not run Lotus 1-2-3 macros. Excel displays workbooks that contain worksheets in a window. By default, the menu bar, the formula bar, and the Standard and Formatting toolbar are displayed at the top of the window. At the bottom of the window, the status bar displays different indicators about the current working environment.
The General Similarities:
Many Lotus 1-2-3 functions have Microsoft Excel equivalents. However, Microsoft Excel uses different calculation rules than Lotus 1-2-3 when evaluating text in formulas, certain database criteria, and the value of certain logical operators.

Credits to: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/differences-between-microsoft-excel-and-lotus-1-2-3-HP005199774.aspx

2. The courts took several years to reverse their initial decision and rule in favor of Borland. What impact did this delay have on the software industry? How might things have been different if Borland had received an initial favorable ruling?

         The delay causes tremendous impact on the software industry. Some other firm might be confused and doubt regarding on the delay. It is once said that Borland was guilty in infringement against the Lotus 1-2-3, but later on U.S district court changed their side in favor to Borland and took several years. The impact about this to software industry that it might confuse them to what is really the proper and acceptable principle in terms of copyright infringement. If Borland had received earlier an initial favorable ruling, they might continue working with their spreadsheet program, Quattro. They might also still in the spreadsheet business. They may also continue in spreading the program made by them and be a successful unlike Lotus 1-2-3.

3. Assume that you are the manager of Borland’s software development. With the benefit of hindsight, what different decisions would you have made about Quattro?

          If ever I would become the manager of Borland’s software development in the near future, I might have different decisions after recognizing the realities about Quattro issues. It can be the used of different techniques, form or ideas that far away from what Lotus 1-2-3 implied. It is still a spreadsheet program but I make pretty sure that it won’t let attract any unethical issues. Borland can still sell their products without the features that they probably copy or not from Lotus. So, why including the features if it is only attract attention from the law officials. Making and developing software is a long process, it takes a lot of effort, patience and time to make it successful. It is not nice to copy the idea from others; it is still significant to be unique original, from this you may attract users because it might new and amazing to them.