Acceso usuarios
P. M. Rao, Erik A. Borg, Joseph Klein
Intellectual capital represents an increasingly important area in the world economy. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have played an essential role in the globalization of the economy. The protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is an essential factor in international economic affairs. This article discusses the legal issues concerning proprietary and open software licensing and suggests alternatives to legally enforcing IPRs. Global technology networking and outsourcing have involved the use of open source software (OSS), and have implications for the enforcement of IPRs. Propriety and OSS licensing are analyzed in this article. Companies may adopt alternative strategies to the strict enforcement of IPRs. A relationship view of IPRs is presented, a perspective that adopts relationship marketing as a means of gaining profits from IPRs in the ICT sector. By establishing a relationship to customers, software producers may gain customer loyalty and commitment from users of their software and, in the long run, retain a position as a chosen supplier of software.
