Call for papers: "Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law"

For a special issue of the Int. J. of Information and Communication Technology.

The application of information technology has been expanded and extended to every society in the world. It has a strong connection and association with many areas such as business, engineering, science, healthcare, arts and public administration. Particularly, students from all ages are exposed to the Internet and to online information at different levels from K-12 to higher education. A part of their daily life relies on social networking and cloud computing services for connecting with friends and taking advantage of online services for learning. With mobile technology becoming more common and accessible, the population of and activity in the cyberworld will continue to grow tremendously.

With the growth of the cyberworld, the level of cybercrime will continue to increase and poses a serious threat to online users now and in the future. The limitations of the current law systems which vary between countries create a real challenge in formulating any solution to combat the cybercrime. In addition, the protection of intellectual property rights such as raised privacy and copyright and freedom of expression issues are critical issues in the cyberworld. The future challenge of how to protect intellectual property from violation both in the real world and cyberworld requires further efforts in research.

We solicit high-quality original research papers (including significant works-in-progress) in any aspect of information technology and intellectual property law, e.g. copyrights, patent and design law, trademarks, software and hardware systems, telecommunications, e-business, data protection and privacy, and information and communications technology crime.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Intellectual property rights
• Copyright law
• The law of confidence
• Patent law
• Design law
• Trademarks
• Copyright and computer programs
• Database copyright and the database right
• Criminal offences
• Information technology contracts
• Liability for defective hardware or software
• Contracts for writing software
• License agreements
• Open source software
• Website development
• Hardware contracts
• Cybercrime
• Computer fraud
• Hacking
• Content crimes
• Data protection and privacy
• Data controllers and the data protection
• Data subjects’ rights
• Freedom of information
• Privacy in electronic communications
• Professional and social issues of information and communications technology
• Computer professionals
• The impact of ICT on society

Important Dates

Submission of papers: 1 April, 2014
Notification of acceptance: 1 July, 2014
Final papers due: 1 September, 2014