Scheduling apps impact on public transportation Essay

Scheduling apps impact on public transportation - Essay Example In order to bring about sanity in the transport industry, a number of applications were brought forward as a means of enhancing efficiency in the sector and improving service delivery to the customers. Some of the applications include Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar. The recent surge in scheduling apps has had a major impact on the taxi industry with benefits for the consumer; however, the applications seem to threaten the status quo of the for-hire transportation business. Based on such a perspective, this paper discusses the various attributes of the apps in the taxi industry, considering both the benefits and the threats to the different players in the industry. Since the emergence of new entrants into the industry such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, there has been significant changes, especially on the structural aspects, which still operated on the mentality used decades ago (Yue, 2014). Previously, any person in need of the taxi or car services had to wait physically at one of the city streets or call on one of the taxi or car services, which would take long before making arrival. Such inconveniences significantly affected the operations of the industry, an aspect that would only be rectified by the use of new apps. As such, the different apps including Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, made it easy for customers to use their smartphones in securing taxi and car services from any particular location. Such has significantly improved service delivery and efficiency of operation, especially for customers. However, on a different perspective, the technological changes in the transport industry have threatened some players in the industry, most especiall y those who benefited from the old infrastructural operations in the industry (Stephanidis, 2013). The scheduling apps in the transport industry with the entry of players such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar have had a substantive impact in the industry

Intellectual Property Law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Intellectual Property Law - Research Paper Example With mounting pressures by judicial criticism, intellectual property was regulated under common law and the Statute of Monopolies enacted in 1623 rendered illegal all monopolies except those for a defined term of years; this forms the basis of modern patent law (World Intellectual Property Organization, p.1). The exact origin of intellectual property law is still unknown. However, it is a fact that, terms like intellectual property was used during the initial half of seventeenth century in Britain. The history of intellectual property rights in the modern era started in Germany in 1867. North German Confederation is believed to be the first country which formulated intellectual property laws in the modern era. â€Å"The North German Confederation first used the term â€Å"intellectual property† in 1867, providing for legislative protection in its constitution†(Furst). Since then, intellectual laws evolved in different forms at different parts of the world. Different cou ntries have different types of intellectual property laws. ... Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of â€Å"original works† and includes such things as literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual creations, both published and unpublished. Copyright does not protect ideas. It only protects the specific and original expression of the idea (Pipers) For example, Windows is the operating system developed by Microsoft. It should be noted that plenty of people, including Bill Gates, worked on the development of Windows operating system. This product is protected with the help of copyright laws. It is illegal to use pirated copies of Windows on computers. Even in China, Microsoft succeeded in winning some cases with respect to copyright violation of its products. â€Å"A local court in Shanghai ruled that Dazhong Insurance must pay Microsoft 2.17 million yuan ($317,900) as compensation for using pirated Microsoft software, NetEase.com reported†(Stan) â€Å"Patents are used to protect new pro duct, process, apparatus, and uses providing the invention is not obvious in light of what has been done before† (European Generic medicines Association). It should be noted that new products are developed only because of the huge efforts undertaken by somebody. Once a new product is developed, it is easy for others to copy it. In other words, leaders and followers are in the market. Leaders always generate new ideas and innovate new products whereas followers try to copy those ideas and innovations. In order to avoid such illegal copying, all new products and services developed by somebody can be protected with the help of patent laws. Patent rights are usually given only for a particular period of time. The owner of a patented product should disclose the innovation to the