This content is open to everyone — sign in to save your progress, earn points, and unlock module exams.

Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights

Topic 5.4 of Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Rights

Copyright, Patents, and IP in Computer Science

What copyright, a patent, and a trade secret each protect in India, why a published research paper and the algorithm it describes are protected differently, what Section 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 means for algorithm patents, the RSA patent as a concrete illustration of the patent bargain, and what the MIT, GPL, and Apache 2.0 licences each actually require of a researcher who reuses open-source code.

~22 min total·4 quadrants of structured content

By the end of this topic, you will

Explain what each of the three forms of IP — copyright, patent, trade secret — protects, and state the Indian statute covering each
Apply Section 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 to decide whether a given algorithm or ML model is patentable in India
Explain the RSA patent case and what it illustrates about the patent bargain: disclosure in exchange for a time-limited monopoly
State the key difference between the MIT, GPL, and Apache 2.0 licences, and explain what each one requires of a researcher distributing a tool built on that code

Quadrant 1 · e-Tutorial

Video lectures and walkthroughs

Video content coming soon.

Quadrant 2 · e-Content

Articles and case studies

research-methodology

A published paper and the algorithm it describes are protected differently — and conflating the two is one of the most common student errors in this area. Understanding the three forms of intellectual property, the specific limit Section 3(k) of the Patents Act places on algorithm patents, and what the MIT, GPL, and Apache licences each require turns IP knowledge into something practically useful for a researcher.

9 min read

Quadrant 3 · Web Resources

Downloadable material and curated external links

Web resources coming soon.

Quadrant 4 · Self-Assessment

Test your knowledge — earn a certificate on first pass

Assessment coming soon.