Property protection for software

While a patent can protect the novel ideas embodied in a software program, a copyright cannot. Copyright protection extends to the particular form in which an idea is expressed.

In the case of software, copyright law would protect the source and object code, as well as certain unique original elements of the user interface. Anyone exercising any of these exclusive rights without permission of the copyright owner is an infringer and subject to liability for damages or statutory fines.

Copyright law also protects against indirect copying, such as unauthorized translation of the code into a different programming language. Copyright protection arises automatically upon the creation of an original work of authorship. In contrast with patents, independent development of a copyrighted work is a defense to an allegation of copyright infringement. Imagine, though, how unlikely it would be for the same thousands of lines of code to be created independently by one not engaged in unauthorized copying.

Unlike patents, copyright law affords no protection to the ideas underlying the program. Ideas and concepts are fair game for competitors to the extent they are not protected by patents or trade secrets.

Interestingly, both patent law and copyright law are called for in the U. However, of course, the extension of these areas of law to software is a modern development.

Secrets do not need to be innovative ideas or creative expressions. For example, although open source software may be protectable by patent and copyright law, it cannot be protected by trade secret law due to the lack of secrecy.

Although there may seem to be a conflict between registering the copyright in software and keeping the source code secret, source code can still be protected under Trade Secret Law. To register for a software copyright, the U. The vast majority of the source code need not be submitted.

Protecting software like the secret recipe for Coca-Cola or Krabby Patties helps an owner prove that the source code is a trade secret. By taking specific actions designed to protect the secrecy of the source code, companies can use their protection strategy to open the door to this additional legal basis for bringing a lawsuit against a competitor. Strategic actions designed to protect source code secrets can include company policies that require software engineers to only work onsite on company-issued equipment or adding special terms in employment agreements.

This primer is merely an introduction to intellectual property as it applies to software. There are many terms and concepts that have been purposefully avoided to keep this primer at an introductory level of detail. Always consult with an attorney about your specific situation to get a full understanding of how patent, copyright, and trade secret laws apply to your work as a software developer.

Barr Group 's team of electronics and software expert witnesses provide experienced and unbiased source code reviews , expert reports and testimony for product liability , patent infringement , software copyright , and trade secrets litigation involving computer-based technology and software. Source Code Review Services. Reverse Engineering Services. Barr Group's logo is a U.

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Intellectual Property. Your LinkedIn Connections with the authors. To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq. However, obtaining patent protection is a lengthy process and is more expensive. Bhandari, Law relating to Intellectual Property Rights 5 th edtn, Central Law Publication, The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Debopriya Mukherjee.

Rajagopala Ayyangar. One of the recommendations was the allowance of only process patents with regard to inventions relating to drugs, medicines, food and chemicals. A Trade mark may be defined as a lawfully protected abstract, word, symbol, color, mark, slogan or a mixture of those related to an organization or a selected product that differentiates it from the others accessible within the market.

With coming up of the new Trade Mark Rules , a new procedure has been created that allows the Registrar to proclaim a particular trademark as "well known". Many entrepreneurs do not comprehend the importance of a TM search.

Who Owns Memes? Photon legal. One such trend popularly followed by the masses is of sharing, designing, communicating through "memes". Fair use supports "socially laudable purposes," typically, if not exclusively, involving the use of the copyrighted work by a second author. Intellectual property IP is a piece of work that isn't a tangible object. IP usually comes from creativity and could be a manuscript, a formula, a song, or software. Under the law, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets , and patents protect IP.

Both businesses and people have problems protecting their IP. Businesses with valuable IP like software have to watch out for theft from employees. Theft that happens from outside the business occurs, too, but not as often.

Having employees sign Non-disclosure Agreements is one way to protect company IP. Restricting employee access to IP like the software in development is another way. It covers these crimes and how to protect against them. Another way to protect IP is to use the law to protect it. That means getting a patent , copyright, or a trademark.

Then if someone does steal your property, you have legal grounds to prosecute. When you want to protect software IP, both a copyright and a patent offer legal protection. Each option covers different parts of IP protection. Some people prefer one or the other, while others go for both. Alternatively, you can choose to treat your software as a trade secret.

Deciding what to do is an important step in protecting your software. Trademarks are another option, but they don't protect your IP software code. What they protect is the name of the software or a symbol you use to advertise the software. Trademarking your software's brand name is a good way to keep others from marketing a product under a confusingly similar name.

Copyright law defines copyright as : "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. Copyright Law. So the way you express an idea, like a work of fiction or software in code, falls under Copyright law.

A copyright grants you specific rights in terms of your software. When you hold the copyright to software code, you can:.

An official copyright registration is easy to get and doesn't cost you much. Copyrights last for the lifetime of the person who created the work, plus 70 years after that person's death. If you're copyrighting something you bought from a person you hired to create it, the copyright lasts for 95 years after you first publish that work, or years after the work is created, whichever comes first. Some programmers worry about sending the code to the U.

Copyright Office. If it's at the Copyright Office, you might worry competitors can look it up and take copies. However, you only have to send the first 25 pages and the last 25 pages, to identify your software. If you have trade secrets in the software, you can black those out. Stealing from the software is more complicated than just plagiarizing because the software is more than just code.

Software is an invention or an idea. Copyright law only protects how that idea is written down.