| The worldwide discussion concerning the issue of software legal protection has arisen several decades ago and has probably not ended, altough it seems that the copyright protection is most widely accepted nowadays. There, however, are some countries that grant patent protection for software as well (e. g. USA, Japan). It is quite important to be aware of the fact that no form of intellectual property protection can fully protect a software product as a whole, since there might be different protection regimes related to various parts of the software. |
Computer programs are legally protected by copyrights and may be protected by patents in the United States. The statutory regulation of US copyright law can be found in the Copyright Act of 1976, which even contains a definition of a computer program stating that: "A computer program is a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result."
Legal protection of computer programs in the European Union is regulated by the Council directive 91/250/EEC on the legal protection of computer programs, which states that: "[...] Member States shall protect computer programs, by copyright, as literary works within the meaning of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works [...]. Protection [...] shall apply to the expression in any form of a computer program. Ideas and principles which underlie any element of a computer program, including those which underlie its interfaces, are not protected by copyright under this Directive. A computer program shall be protected if it is original in the sense that it is the author's own intellectual creation. No other criteria shall be applied to determine its eligibility for protection.".
To be eligible for a patent protection the invention consisting of computer program must create an additional technical effect in course of its utilization that goes beyond its usual interaction with a computer.
Trademark Protection:
Patent Protection:
Durell, K. L., 2000. Intellectual Property Protection for Computer Software: How Much and What Form is Effective?. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 8 (3), pp. 231 - 262.
