Copyright Protection for Code

Scope

 * Use this page to list sources related to questions about the nature and extent of copyright protection for software.

News / Editorial

 * Andy Chalk, Copyright Lawyers Sue Lawyer Who Helped Copyright Defendants, The Escapist (Nov. 26, 2010).
 * Jacqui Cheng, Jury gives Oracle $1.3 billion in copyright damages from SAP, Ars Technica (Nov. 24, 2010).
 * Ben Kuchera, Blizzard sues group selling StarCraft 2 hacks, Ars Technica (Oct. 19, 2010) (Suing for copyright infringement, similar to MDY).
 * Palm Sued for Alleged Copyright Violation, Billing & OSS World (Dec. 4, 2009).
 * Lance Whitney, Psystar said to have deal with Apple, CNet News (Dec. 1 2009) (Psystar use of Apple clones not covered by fair use, violates DMCA). (Misfiled?)
 * Brad Stone, Founders Win a Piece of Skype From eBay, The New York Times (Nov. 6, 2009).
 * McCollum, Jordan, Google Chrome: Copyright infringer?, Marketing Pilgrim (Oct. 29, 2009) (Red Bed Software owns patent on software update technique used by Chrome, suing for willful infringement (3x penalty) after 3 weeks without response.).
 * Wilber, Del Quentin, Man gets 3 years for selling pirated software on eBay, The Washington Post (Oct. 22, 2009) (Falls Church man sold over 1 million dollars of pirated Adobe software over 6 years).
 * Newberry, Jon, Cincom wins copyright suit against Novelis, Business Courier of Cincinnati (Oct. 8, 2009).
 * Aharonian, Greg, Is Software Copyright Unconstitutional, Patent and IP Law Quality, (Unknown).
 * Ed Frauenheim Oracle-SAP Suit Raises Questions about Software Support Specialist: How It All Started, workforce.com (August 7, 2008)
 * Carlson, Nicholas, ConnectU Takes Facebook Founders To Court, InternetNews (July 24, 2007) (ConnectU claims hired Mark Zuckerburg to develop app, Zuckerburg quit, took app, started Facebook.).
 * Hamblen, Matt, CA sues Rocket Software for source code theft, ComputerWorld (Aug. 2, 2007).
 * Holwerda, Thom, Judge Sides with Vernor, Slams Autodesk, OsNews (Oct. 1, 2009).
 * Kharif, Olga, Skype Founders Pull Out the Stops, BusinessWeek (Sep. 22, 2009) (Skype founders try to buy back company from eBay).
 * Kravets, David, Linden Lab Targeted in Second Life Sex-Code Lawsuit, Wired (Sep. 17, 2009).
 * MacMillan, Douglas, Skype Lawsuit May Complicate Sale, BusinessWeek (Sep. 16, 2009).
 * Paul, Ryan, Irate Android devs aim to replace Google's proprietary bits, Ars Technica (Sep. 29, 2009) (Proprietary Google Apps in Android ROM complicate third-party development, unrest in developer community).
 * Stone, Brad, Skype Founders File Copyright Suit Against eBay, The New York Times (Sep. 16, 2009) (Skype alleges Ebay modified source code behind without license to produce derivative works).
 * Wingfield, Nick, Group of Microsoft Rivals Nears Patent Deal in Bid to Protect Linux, The Wall Street Journal (Sep. 9, 2009).
 * John Markoff, Xerox vs. Apple - 'Standard Dashboard' is at Issue, The New York Times (Dec. 20, 1989).

Legal Briefs / Opinions / Statutes

 * Quantum System Integrators, Inc. v. Sprint Nextel Corp., No. 08-01585, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 14766, 2009 WL 1931196 (4th Cir. Jul. 7, 2009) (RAM copies are sufficiently fixed for purposes of copyright law).
 * Asset Mktg Sys. v. Gagnon, 542 F.3d 748 (9th Cir. 2008) (Default unlimited, nonexclusive license)
 * Lotus Development Corporation v. Borland International, Inc., 49 F.3d 807 (1st Cir. 1995) (Software copyright does not extend to layout or menu).
 * Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 35 F.3d 1435 (9th Cir. 1994) (GUI look-and-feel is not copyrightable).
 * Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc., 982 F.2d 693 (2d Cir. 1992) (Abstraction-Filtration-Comparison test).
 * Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc., 862 F.2d 204 (9th Cir. 1988) (Substantial similarity and Scènes à faire).
 * Whelan Associates Inc. v. Jaslow Dental Laboratory, Inc., et al, 97 F.2d 1222 (3d Cir. 1986) (Structure, sequence and organization represent expression, not idea).
 * Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corporation, 714 F.2d 1240 (3d Cir. 1983) (Computer operating system is copyrightable material).

Scholarship

 * Menell, Peter S., Envisioning Copyright Law's Digital Future. UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper No. 95 (Sep. 3, 2002).
 * Risch, Michael, How Can Whelan v. Jaslow and Lotus v. Borland Both be Right? Re-Examining the Economics of Computer Software Reuse. John Marshall Journal of Computer & Information Law, Vol. 17, No. 511, (1999).
 * Frederick R. Warren-Boulton, Kenneth C. Baseman, et al. Economics of intellectual property protection for software: the proper role for copyright, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 3 No. 2 (Jun. 1995).
 * Pamela Samuelson, CONTU Revisited: The Case against Copyright Protection for Computer Programs in Machine-Readable Form, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 1984, No. 4 (Sep. 1984), pp. 663-769.