An Analysis of the Scope of Copyright Protection for Application Programs
60 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2011
Date Written: January 15, 1989
Abstract
The article describes how the first courts to address the scope of copyright protection for application programs have tended to view application programming as predominantly an exercise in creative expression and accordingly have interpreted the scope of copyright protection in this area quite broadly. As Part I explains, however, many design choices in writing application programs are made by applying the principles of the scientific fields of human factor analysis and software engineering. Thus, the tendency of courts to view application programming as more akin to literary creativity than to scientific and engineering advancement threatens to give broad legal protection to basic principles of human factor analysis and software engineering without requiring the creators of the programs embodying those principles to satisfy the more exacting standards of patent law. The article concludes that a careful application of the idea/expression merger doctrine, recognizing the importance of scientific considerations in application programming and the need to standardize computer-human interfaces, would both foster the invention, development, and diffusion of improved application programs and comport with basic copyright principles.
Keywords: computer software, copyright
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
An Empirical Look at Software Patents
By James E. Bessen and Robert M. Hunt
-
The U.S. Patent System in Transition: Policy Innovation and the Innovation Process
-
Don't Fence Me in: Fragmented Markets for Technology and the Patent Acquisition Strategies of Firms
-
By Ashish Arora, Marco Ceccagnoli, ...
-
The Private Value of Software Patents
By Bronwyn H. Hall and Megan Macgarvie
-
Patent Scope and Innovation in the Software Industry
By Mark A. Lemley and Julie E. Cohen
-
Patent Scope and Innovation in the Software Industry
By Mark A. Lemley and Julie E. Cohen
-
By Alfonso Gambardella, Dietmar Harhoff, ...