The Copyrightability of Computer Program Screen Displays

Copyright protection for computer programs has traditionally centered on the computer program itself. Recently, a debate has developed in the computer industry as to whether copyright protection should be expanded to cover the audiovisual screen displays generated by the programs. The author traces the development of the current law on this issue and distinguishes it from video game copyright law, in which the screen display has always been the primary object of copyright protection. The author concludes that computer program screen displays should not be registered separately, but instead should be protected under the copyright of the underlying computer program

Four Reasons and a Paradox: The Manifest Superiority of Copyright over Sui Generis Protection of Computer Software

The Manifesto Concerning the Legal Protection of Computer Programs offers an extensive and challenging critique of current intellectual property protection of software. The authors argue strongly that the law should focus on the value of the know-how embodied in programs and the importance of protecting it, rather than on the particular means which might be used to appropriate it. The authors seek to compel reconceptualization of the place of computer programs, and of software authors\u27 creativity, within the domain of intellectual property. However, their brief for change manifests several flaws. Paradoxically, it comes at once both too soon and too late. In addition, its expectation for the adoption of its proposed alternatives is too optimistic, while its perception of the ability of copyright law to afford appropriate protection for computer programs is too pessimistic. The Manifesto\u27s objectives and the moment chosen for their declaration are perplexing, if not quixotic. As the authors on several occasions acknowledge, the computer software industry is currently thriving. Moreover, copyright protection for computer programs has now become the worldwide norm. Not only the U.S., but the E.C. and all members of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have determined to protect computer programs as literary works, within the meaning of the dominant international copyright convention. Even supposing that a specter of over- and underprotection haunts the software industry, the alternative intellectual property regimes the authors evoke are likely neither to achieve domestic enactment, nor to secure broad and effective international agreement. Finally, the Manifesto\u27s essential premise, that copyright law ill befits computer programs because the law does not protect works that behave, betrays too cramped an appreciation of the subject matter and scope of copyright protection. Copyright does, to some extent, protect behavior, whether of computer programs or of other works of authorship. The primary problem is to delineate how much behavior copyright will cover; but that problem haunts all of copyright. If the specter the Manifesto summons is not entirely spurious, neither is it purely computer-specific

Reverse Engineering and the Rise of Electronic Vigilantism: Intellectual Property Implications of Lock-Out Programs

Over the past few years, there has been an abundance of scholarship dealing with the appropriate scope of copyright and patent protection for computer programs. This Article approaches those problems from a slightly different perspective, focusing on the discrete problem of lock-out programs. The choice of lock-out as a paradigm for exploring the interoperability question and the contours of copyright and patent protection of computer programs is informed by two considerations. First, for purposes of the interoperability inquiry, lock-out programs represent an extreme; they are discrete, self-contained modules that are highly innovative in design, yet that serve no purpose other than to regulate access to a computer or computer operating system. Copyright and patent analyses of the lockout problem highlight a fundamental tension between intellectual property rights and considerations of public access, and so afford a useful vehicle for examining the scope of copyright and patent protection for computer programs generally. Second, lock-out may well become a defining technology of the coming “Information Age.” Pundits have prophesied a “set-top box” in every home that affords a gateway to an “information superhighway” where goods and services may be purchased and information accessed. Whether or not the manufacturer of the set-top box will be able to exclude unauthorized purveyors of goods, services, and information will significantly affect both the structure of the emerging market in information services and the nature of individual participation in that market. The purpose of this Article is twofold. First, the author argues that neither the copyright laws nor the patent laws preclude duplication of protected program features, including “lock” and “key” features, to whatever extent necessary to achieve full compatibility with an unpatented computer system. Second, and more generally, she addresses inconsistencies and conceptual flaws in the current understanding of copyright and patent protection for computer programs that emerge during the first inquiry, and propose doctrinal modifications to resolve them. Although computer programs have been protected by both copyright and patent regimes for years, the precise contours of the protection these regimes afford remain unsettled. For that reason, some scholars, computer lawyers, and computer industry professionals have urged the adoption of sui generi protection for computer programs, but the question of sui generis protection may have become largely irrelevant. The United States has convinced many other countries to follow its lead in “tending both copyright and patent protection to computer programs and is unlikely to change course. For better or worse, it seems we are stuck with the existing modes of intellectual property protection for computer programs. However, this Article argues that certain adjustments to the copyright and patent doctrines governing the protection of computer programs are necessary if the intellectual property laws are to continue to serve both their new and their traditional functions. Part I of this Article describes the facts and outcomes of two recent cases: Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc. and Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of America, Inc., both of which involved attempts to enforce intellectual property rights in lock-out programs. The remainder of the Article takes those cases as a starting point for discussion of the interoperability question and what it reveals about the scope and structure of copyright and patent protection for computer programs. Parts II and III explore the copyright implications of reverse engineering interface specifications and lock-out programs and of using the information gained thereby to create and market a compatible program. Part II focuses on the copyright issues resulting from intermediate copying during the reverse engineering process. Part III considers whether the reverse engineer may create a program that duplicates the “key” to the “lock” and other functional features of interoperability-related routines. Part IV addresses issues bearing on the validity of a lock-out patent. Finally, Part V considers whether, in light of the analyses in Parts II, III, and IV, attempts to enforce patents and copyrights against competitors who crack the code for a lockout program constitute patent or copyright misuse. The Article concludes with some general reflections on the efficacy and viability of the copyright and patent models for intellectual property protection of computer programs

A Components Approach to Intellectual Property in a Dynamic Technology Environment

This Article will address the protection of technological intellectual property in our current computer dominated business environment. The focus will be on copyright protection for computer programs. It should be noted that the concept of a components approach to computer program protection should be valid with patents, as well. Part II will discuss the federal statute dealing with copyright, Title 17. Part III will discuss two circuit court cases that have had a substantial impact on the treatment of copyright protection for computer programs. Part IV will discuss a components approach to protecting those intangible assets, suggesting that additional protection may be achieved at a component level

Copyright protection of computer programs

The topic of this rigorous thesis is Copyright legal protection of computer programs, whereas it contains a description of current regulation of this issue in European and Czech law and its evaluation. The thesis includes detailed analysis of the European Directive on the legal protection of computer programs and its particular provisions. Moreover the thesis is concerned with analysis of the Czech regulation of computer program protection and its comparison with the European regulation. The thesis addresses evolution of the Czech regulation and evaluates particular amendments of the Copyright Act. It also takes into account specifics of a computer program and aspires to analyse questions whose interpretation may be difficult in practice.Tématem této rigorózní práce je Autorskoprávní ochrana počítačových programů, přičemž obsahuje popis současné úpravy této problematiky v evropském a českém právu a její zhodnocení. Práce podrobně vykládá evropskou směrnici o právní ochraně počítačových programů a její jednotlivá ustanovení. Dále pak práce obsahuje rozbor české právní úpravy a její srovnání s úpravou evropskou, přičemž se rovněž zabývá vývojem české právní úpravy a hodnotí jednotlivé novelizace autorského zákona. Při popisu právní úpravy práce zohledňuje specifika počítačového programu a snaží se rozebrat otázky, jejichž výklad může činit v praxi potíže.Ústav práva autorského, práv průmyslových a práva soutěžníhoInstitute of Copyright, Industrial Property and Competition LawFaculty of LawPrávnická fakult

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Computers and Computer Programs: Recent Developments

The following article examines the protection offered to computers and computer programs, under the various applicable patent, copyright and trade secret laws. Concerning patent protection; the author discusses the history and current status of the patent laws, and analyzes in detail the landmark case of Diamond v. Diehr. Discussed also is an analysis of copyright protection for computer programs, offered by the 1980 amendments to section 117 of the 1976 Copyright Act; which paved the way for the increased protection

Reverse Engineering of Software for Interoperability and Analysis

The rapid evolution of computer technology raises difficult questions about the scope of protection the law should afford computer programs. Computer programs are uniquely different from traditional literary works protected by the copyright laws, because they have machine-like properties, are primarily functional in nature, and frequently are distributed in a form that humans cannot read. Despite these differences, however, computer programs have received protection under the copyright paradigm along with literary and artistic works. The United States historically has employed a highly protectionist approach to computer programs, as evidenced by early software infringement decisions in which courts slowly expanded protection by prohibiting copying of not only the literal or tangible aspects of computer programs but also the nonliteral elements. Recently, some courts have made an underlying shift in their interpretation of legal doctrine and policy from a broad standard of infringement that favors software copyright owners to a more narrow standard

‘Equitable Intellectual Property Protection of Computer Programs in South Africa: Some Proposals for Reform’

This paper provides a brief overview of the copyright, patent and trade secret protection of computer programs in South Africa and then sets out suggestions for how this protection could be altered or better implemented to create a more equitable balance between creators’ and users’ rights. The overview of intellectual property (“IP”) protection of computer programs is brief as there is already a substantive body of South African specific literature that discusses it extensively. This paper’s main focus is the evaluation of the equity of the protection and making reform proposals. A computer program is a series of instructions which enable a computer to perform a task or achieve a result.3 Computer programs are created in human-readable source code which is then compiled or translated into machine-readable object code. In copyright parlance, object code is “merely an adaptation of source code”

Copyright Protection for Video Games: The Courts in the Pac-Man Maze

Copyright has proved to be an appropriate form of protection for video games. However, the application of copyright law to protect the audiovisual displays and underlying computer programs of video games has become possible only since the revision of the Copyright Act 7 in 1976. Of further significance, has been the development of the law of copyright in the subject areas of computer programs, games, and characters. However, the nature of copyright law is such that the final determination of the protection to be afforded a given game actually rests on policy grounds rather than on an application of black-letter law to facts. The constitutional foundation of copyright law is the attempt to protect certain individual property rights, while also providing an incentive for production of new works. Such a goal is achieved only through a delicate balancing of interests, and the extent of protection is based in each case on that balance of policies. An understanding of the way in which that balance is achieved in copyright for video games can be attained by first examining the constitutional and statutory underpinnings of copyright law, and then reviewing the development of copyright doctrines in the subject areas of computer programs, games, and characters

Providing Protection to Programmers\u27 Works: Disregard the Merger Doctrine and Adopt the Application Approach

In today’s technological landscape, computer programs are one of the most highly complex and popular inventions. However, they still receive little or sometimes no legal protection. As a consequence, programmers are reluctant to create new programs, discouraging innovation and preventing the public to benefit from using these inventions. If the court does afford them copyright protection, they may still not receive legal damages for copyright infringement because the court would not consider their program registered under the Copyright Act of 1976. This Comment argues for greater copyright protection for programs by disregarding the merger doctrine, which does not provide protection to the expressions of a program, and advocates for the adoption of the application approach, which registers a programmer’s work upon filing the application with the Copyright Office. Without new legislation, programmers would not have an incentive to create programs and would have to wait for the Copyright Office to make a determination on their application while the infringer would continue to profit. This Comment concludes Congress must provide more copyright protection to programs and must adopt the application approach